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Qatar Airways to U-Tapao


duke007

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I was looking at a YouTube clip of my mate Akbar Al Baker (CEO of Qatar Airways) in Dublin promoting the new route between Dublin and Doha when he added that Qatar Airways would be adding 12 more new destinations in 2018, was both shocked and pleasantly surprised when he said U-Tapao would be one of them, that will save a lot of mucking about B)

Other new routes include Cardiff (UK)  & San Francisco

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1 hour ago, BigTel said:

Cardiff to U-Tapao  ,  now that would be handy :biggrin:

Bang Tidy even :biggrin:

Croeso i caerdydd, y porth i cymru (Welcome to Cardiff, the gateway to Wales)

Qatar Airways chooses Cardiff Airport

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker has today (24th April 2017) announced the launch of a new frequent service from Cardiff Airport, linking Wales and south west England to Qatar and significant global markets via Qatar’s capital city Doha in 2018. 

The world-class, 5-star airline renowned for quality and excellent customer service has announced Cardiff Airport as the only new planned UK route in its network for 2018.  

The service from Cardiff Airport will be the first regular direct long-haul flight linking Wales and south west England to a major global hub in the Gulf region, benefiting both leisure and business travellers.

Services will fly between Cardiff and Hamad International Airport in Doha, which since opening in 2014 is one of the world’s largest hub airports with more than 30 million passengers using the state-of-the-art facilities each year. Via the hub, Qatar Airways connects to more than 150 destinations across 6 continents including key routes to Australia, UAE, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, South Africa and China.

The new service will stimulate inbound tourism to and from the region as a major gateway to the UK.

Deb Barber, CEO at Cardiff Airport said; “I am immensely proud that Qatar Airways has chosen Cardiff Airport to operate its new service to Doha. It is fantastic that we will now be able to offer our customers more choice of travel with a world-class airline providing easy connections to destinations across the world.  

“More than 1 million passengers per year from our region are travelling to destinations that are on the Qatar Airways network. Over 90% of these passengers are currently travelling via London and this new service will give them the opportunity to fly more conveniently from Cardiff, their local airport. 

“It has been a long journey to get to this stage, with discussions spanning a number of years. Over the coming months we will work with the team at Qatar Airways to confirm the details of the service and look forward to the flights being on sale in the near future.”   

Roger Lewis, Chairman at Cardiff Airport added; “This is a ‘game changing’ announcement for Cardiff Airport and for Wales. The benefits of this relationship will be transformational for both businesses and passengers across the south west of England and for Wales.

"I sincerely thank H.E., Mr. Akbar Al Baker, for the trust he and Qatar Airways are placing in us. He is a truly inspirational leader and I am honoured to have worked with him on this project.  

"I am confident that the team at Cardiff Airport will deliver a world-class service with Qatar Airways for all of our passengers both visiting Wales and travelling across the world.

"I look forward to returning to Doha in the near future to further develop this special bi-lateral relationship between Wales, the UK and Qatar." 

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  • 3 weeks later...

U-Tapao is only twenty minutes to half an hour closer to Pattaya than Suvarnabhumi although immigration (without fast track) is perhaps less painful.

Personally I enjoy finishing my vacation in Bangkok and preferring a non stop service to London, therefore  landing in Rag Head Land to make an aircraft change has precious little appeal.

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5 hours ago, pentire said:

U-Tapao is only twenty minutes to half an hour closer to Pattaya than Suvarnabhumi although immigration (without fast track) is perhaps less painful.

Personally I enjoy finishing my vacation in Bangkok and preferring a non stop service to London, therefore  landing in Rag Head Land to make an aircraft change has precious little appeal.

I have flown direct to Bangkok from Heathrow with Thai, BA & Qantas, that part wasn't bad but getting from one terminal to another was a absolute nightmare (I had flown in from Manchester) and took and age, maybe its changed now?

So a 2 hour stopover in Doha is hardly a pain for me, stretch the legs, quick couple of ciggies, buy my Duty Free and then hassle free connections , Hamad Int Airport is a fab airport imho B)

I would still fly to U-Tapao as it takes me 45 minutes from that airport to my room, however should there be a connecting flight from BKK to UTP (Bangkok Airways) in a code-share with Qatar then I would just fly to  BKK  (90 minutes to my room)

The other factor I have in my favour flying from Manc Airport is that I have a bus on my doorstep that runs every 30 minutes to and from the Airport and it takes only 20-25 minutes to get there and back :good:

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Agreed Duke, being based in the NW close to Manchester Airport you’d be foolish to change that existing routine.

Although, I bet you’d prefer a Thai Air or BA flight non stop to Bangkok from Ringway.

Would I be right in thinking that Thai used to operate a service to Bangkok from Manchester via Heathrow? I seem to recall boarding that service at LHR only to find Manchester originating passengers already seated.

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33 minutes ago, pentire said:

Agreed Duke, being based in the NW close to Manchester Airport you’d be foolish to change that existing routine.

Although, I bet you’d prefer a Thai Air or BA flight non stop to Bangkok from Ringway.

Would I be right in thinking that Thai used to operate a service to Bangkok from Manchester via Heathrow? I seem to recall boarding that service at LHR only to find Manchester originating passengers already seated.

Not sure on that as my mate booked the Flights when I flew with Thai, however we did go from MAN to LHR with BA and then LHR to BKK with Thai  and same on the way back....that was back around 2003 if memory serves me right

And yes even though I really like flying with Cathay Pacific, Emirates or Qatar Airways I would jump at the chance of a "direct" Flight from Ringway to Suvarnabhumi with BA or Thai Airways, I don't understand why they don't tbh 

Singapore Airlines fly direct to Changi Airport and back from MAN

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