Qatar Airways has opened up a new gateway in Africa, connecting the DRC with Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The inaugural flight from Doha to Kinshasa landed at N’djili International Airport on Saturday, 1 June 2024, bringing the total number of African destinations served by the airline to 29.

The new route promises to connect Kinshasa to the world via Qatar Airways’ Doha hub, Hamad International Airport, the ‘World’s Best Airport’ as voted by Skytrax in 2024.

Additionally, this strategic move by the airline will improve air connectivity across the African continent and will forge stronger economic and business prospects as well as cultural ties.

The four weekly services will also increase capacity to Angola, raising the number of flights to Luanda from one to four. The addition of Kinshasa also complements the airline's over 170 weekly flights across Africa, emphasising Qatar Airways' commitment to enhancing connectivity throughout the continent.

There has been a strong growth in the market with nine new destinations operated by Qatar Airways in Africa since December 2020. Abidjan, Abuja, Accra, Kinshasa, Harare, Kano, Luanda, Lusaka, and Port Harcourt are the African cities newly added to the extensive Qatar Airways network, while Cairo and Alexandria were resumed.

In addition, Qatar Airways schedules in most of the Africa markets have been optimised in the last 12 months to ensure convenient connectivity to China. It is also the case with Luanda, and now Kinshasa with this new flight that conveniently connects with key markets such as Belgium, France, Portugal and the Middle East.