Qatar Airways has announced its newest long-haul route, with the Doha-based carrier planning on servicing both Bogota El Dorado International Airport(BOG) and Caracas Simón Bolívar International Airport(CCS), with a new triangle routing. The route is going to start relatively soon, with the first flight set to launch on July 22, and will be served twice weekly.

This new service marks the first Middle Eastern carrier to serve Venezuela, and Qatar Airways joins Emirates as the only other carrier serving Bogota from the Gulf. Emirates links Dubai to Bogota via Miami, meaning Qatar will be the only airline serving South American non-stop from the Gulf region. Turkish Airlines maintains its own Istanbul to Caracas and Istanbul to Bogota flights.

Twice Weekly Flights To Bogota And Caracas From Doha

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Qatar will operate the twice-weekly flight from its home at Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH) on Wednesdays and Sundays, with the service set to be flown with the airline’s Boeing 777-200LR aircraft. Flights will push back on a Wednesday and Sunday from Doha, with return flights departing both Colombia and Venezuela on the same day.

These flights are scheduled with optimal transit windows from Qatar’s global network from Doha, making it a logical choice for travelers looking to transit to key markets, which include the likes of Australia, China, Japan, Lebanon, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.

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Flights are on sale now, and with just over two months until take-off, it will be interesting to see how the load factors on these flights unfold. The airline’s inaugural service will depart on July 22, with reports by AeroRoutes suggesting that first flight will operate Doha – Caracas – Bogota. From July 26, this will operate as a triangle service:

One Of The Longest Flights In The Qatar Airways Network

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Qatar’s decision to add Bogota and Caracas to its network map sees the airline add another ultra-long-haul route to its operations. The service between Doha and Bogota covers a total distance of 8,261 miles (13,291 km). By comparison, the airline’s longest route currently is between Doha and Auckland Airport (AKL), and covers a total of 9,250 miles (14,883 km).

In addition to Qatar’s new Colombian and Venezuelan link, this complements the airline’s only other South American link to São Paulo (GRU) which it operates with multiple daily flights, and started serving Brazil back in 2010.

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Qatar Airways operates to more than 160 global destinations, with Bogota and Caracas becoming the 15th and 16th destinations in the Americas served by the oneworld airline. Cities served with non-stop Qatar flights include Montreal (YUL) and Toronto (YYZ) in Canada, Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), and Washington (IAD), alongside São Paulo (GRU) in Brazil.

A Look At Qatar Airways’ Five Longest Routes To The Americas

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Focusing on the airline’s five longest routes to the Americas (both North and South America), the greatest distance by far is the airline’s service from Doha to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). This flight covers a total distance of 8,306 miles (13,364 km), which is followed by the new link to Bogota.

The third longest route is between Doha and San Francisco International Airport (SFO), with the flight covering 8,087 miles (13,011 km). The top five are summarized in the table below:

Qatar’s new link to Colombia and Venezuela becomes the third longest route in the airline’s network overall, for a brief time, as the Qatar service to Auckland is temporarily operating via Adelaide due to the Iran crisis, it will mean that the Bogota and Caracas route will be the airline’s second longest non-stop flight.