Qatar Airways’ inaugural flight to South Australia – using the world’s most modern aircraft – will land at Adelaide Airport this afternoon.

The much-anticipated direct service from Doha to Adelaide marks the start of the airline’s daily flights to Adelaide, which are estimated to generate an extra AU$41 million into South Australia’s visitor economy and create 228 jobs across the state. It will also be the first time the Airbus A350-900 has ever landed in Australia.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr Akbar Al Baker, will lead a delegation from Qatar on the inaugural flight. “Adelaide is an important addition to our route map, and we are pleased to offer the people of South Australia the most modern aircraft in the industry to connect them with 38 countries in Europe, 23 countries in Africa, and 27 destinations in the Middle East,” Mr Akbar Al Baker said.

South Australian Tourism Minister Leon Bignell said he is delighted to welcome Qatar Airways to Adelaide. “The new daily direct service is a great opportunity for South Australia to further strengthen our growing international reputation as a must-see tourism destination,” Mr Bignell said.

“Not only will the Qatar Airways flights bring tourists to South Australia, but the return flights present the chance to fill the A350-900’s cargo holds with as much as 80 tonnes of premium South Australian produce.

“Recent figures show international visitors to our state are up by almost 10 per cent to the year ending December 2015, and they spent $897 million while they were here.

“International visitors are critical to the state’s economy, and the State Government is committed to continuing to increase the number of international visitors to help us achieve our goal of an $8 billion tourism industry by 2020.”

Adelaide is the fourth Australian city – along with Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth – to be served by Qatar Airways, which was named Airline of the Year by UK-based airline consultants Skytrax for the third time in 2015.

The daily flight scheduled will be: DOH-ADL QR914 departs 2055; arrives 1625 (+1 day) ADL-DOH QR 915 departs 2130; arrives 0450 (+1 day)  

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