Doha announced that Gulf Airlines will install an air bridge between several cities in the region and Doha during the World Cup, waiting for the daily arrival of about 200,000 fans from around the world.
As pressure increases on Qatar to find accommodation and rooms for hundreds of thousands of fans, Saudi and Kuwait Airways, flydubai and Oman Air will operate over 160 daily shuttle flights from November 20 to and from Doha within 24 hours to follow Matches .
According to official figures, 200,000 fans will arrive daily from neighboring Gulf countries on this flight.
Qatar Airways CEO and Secretary General of the National Tourism Board Akbar Al Baker said at a press conference that Fly Dubai will operate at least 30 round trip flights, Kuwait Airways 10 and Oman Air 24.
The airline will operate at least 30 round-trip flights a day from Riyadh and Jeddah to carry about 10,000 fans, according to Ibrahim Kochi, Saudi Airlines CEO.
These flights will be for match ticket holders who have completed a special check-in process that includes the provision of biometric data. Al Baker promised “soft” security measures that would treat arrivals as if they were arriving on a domestic flight.
Qatar is expecting 1.4 million people to visit the tiny Gulf state during the World Cup, and many fans have expressed concern about limited accommodation and travel availability.
Al-Baker said the Qatari authorities are working to increase airspace capacity so that the three runways at Hamad International Airport operate “continuously” during the World Cup from Nov. 21 to Dec. 18.
He indicated that some flights to countries not participating in the tournament will be stopped, while the number of other flights will be reduced.
During the tournament, about 70 percent of Qatar Airways scheduled flights will be rescheduled to accommodate additional numbers. Al Baker said Hamad Airport and the old Doha International Airport will see capacity double to accommodate about 200,000 people a day.
Source: El Iktisad