Qatar Airways will launch its first flight to the 71st destination, Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, on Jan. 9, the Doha-based Gulf Times reported on Friday.

There will be four weekly flights to Dar es Salaam, the Qatar Airways' chief executive officer Akbar al-Baker was quoted as saying.

According to the officer, the route will be serviced by an Airbus A319 in a two-class configuration with eight seats in business class and 102 in economy.

Al-Baker said he was delighted to see Dar es Salaam joining the airline's rapidly growing international network.

In Africa, Qatar Airway's current destination includes Casablanca, Algiers, Tunis, Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Khartoum, Tripoli, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Nairobi.

The state-run Qatar Airways, which operates an all-Airbus fleet of 49 planes, plans to double its size to 110 jets by 2015.

(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2006)