Qatar Airways Receives Three Airbus Freighters

Qatar Airways Cargo has received three Airbus A330-200F freighters, taking its cargo fleet to 10 aircraft.

The new A330s replace three A300s that have been phased out.

The trio will be deployed on flights to Amsterdam, Amman, Cairo, Colombo and Chennai, complementing its Boeing 777F operations. A fifth B777F is due to arrive next month.

Chief executive Akbar Al Baker said the arrival of the A330 freighters signaled “a new era” for the airline’s cargo operations, providing significantly more capacity on its global network.

That’s being mirrored on the ground too as a $1 billion cargo facility, due to open at Hamad International Airport later this year, will handle 1.4 million tonnes annually, triple the capacity of the existing facility.

The A330s can hold 64 tonnes of payload over a range of up to 4000NM.