Qatar Airways aims to have five Boeing 787s in service by the beginning of next year and seven by the end of winter, with Germany and the US likely to see the next scheduled flights.
The carrier launched daily Dreamliner services between Heathrow and Doha on Thursday, with chief executive Akbar Al Baker pledging: “We will deploy the 787 to Frankfurt and Munich.”
He added: “We’ll operate it to the US and to several other destinations including Haneda (Tokyo) and Osaka.”
Qatar Airways has three 787s, although one is currently grounded, and others on the way. Al Baker has previously said he plans to launch a second Dreamliner service from Heathrow as the carrier takes further deliveries of the aircraft.
The airline operates five times a day between Heathrow and its hub at Doha.
Al Baker said: “We should have two more 787s delivered on December 19, then another pair soon in the New Year. By the end of next year we should operate 10 of the aircraft.”
However, he said: “Under our original delivery stream we were supposed to have 30 by the end of next year.”
Al Baker confirmed plans to operate the 514-seat Airbus A380 from Heathrow when Qatar takes delivery of the first of 10 of the aircraft it has on order.
He said: “We will bring the A380s to Heathrow because there is no more room at the airport. That is why we want them.” He declined to give further details of the aircraft’s deployment.
However, he said: “We have other destinations in mind in the UK, but due to the shortage of aircraft we are not able to operate to them at the moment.”
Travel Weekly revealed Qatar plans to launch services from Birmingham in July, when Al Baker said: “We will operate to three new destinations in the UK. But it depends how soon we get additional aircraft from Boeing.”
Qatar Airways this week announced it will launch 787 services to Perth from February 1. These will connect at Doha with the carrier’s Dreamliner services from Heathrow.