Last Friday (11/18), Qatar Airways expanded from two to three the number of daily flights departing from Guarulhos Airport, in São Paulo, to Hamad Airport, in Doha. The expansion resumes the pre-pandemic movement, but the objective of the accredited airline for the 2022 World Cup is to go further, further increasing the operation after the tournament.
“Brazil is the largest economy in South America, so it is very important that we keep Brazil connected with the rest of the world, where we have a very, very broad network. What is important for us now is to increase flight frequencies,” Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker told CNN.
Today, the only possibility of a direct flight to Qatar is the departure from Guarulhos International Airport, in São Paulo. But the company’s promise is to expand the departure and arrival points. “What we will continue to do is continue to add destinations in Brazil, in addition to São Paulo. And so continue to grow the Qatar Airways network in the very near future”, assured Al Baker.
According to FIFA, Brazilians are among the 10 nationalities that bought the most tickets for the World Cup games. Brazil is in ninth place in the last round, with almost three million tickets, surpassing the Germans.
The hosts lead the ranking, followed by the Americans. Qatar’s neighbors, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are also in the top 10, as are England, Mexico, Argentina and France.
To accommodate and facilitate the mobility of more than one million tourists, Qatar has reinvented itself and built new hotels and metro stations over the last ten years.
To enter the country, however, it is necessary to have a special visa for the 2022 World Cup, the so-called Hayya Card, which is obtained online with the presentation of the game ticket and proof of accommodation. After the World Cup, however, the country’s plan is to release the visa in loco again, when the tourist arrives in Doha, according to the CEO of Qatar Airways.
“This process to obtain a fixed-term visa is only temporary. It serves to make sure that we have enough accommodation for all the people who are coming to the country. We weren’t expecting hundreds of thousands of people. For the first time in FIFA history, the entire tournament is held in one small country and one city. So there was huge pressure on the infrastructure,” he told CNN.
Source: CNN Brasil
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