Qatar Airways will open direct flight into Adelaide, Australia, in May next year, giving business travellers a greater choice in making connections and also the convenience of flying directly to South Australia.

“The decision is an excellent news for both our tourism industry and South Australians travelling abroad,” says Adelaide Airport managing director Mark Young. “The Qatar Airways Doha to Adelaide service opens up a brand new link with the Middle East, and provides excellent connections further afield such as with Europe and the UK.”

Flight QR914 from Doha will depart at 08:55, arriving into Adelaide at 16:25 the following day. The return leg QR915 will be wheels-up from Adelaide at 21:30 and reach Doha at 04:50 the next day, with onwards connections to Europe and the UK.

“2016 is going to be yet another exciting year for Qatar Airways and we are very pleased that Australia will figure prominently in our expansion plans with the launch of flights to Sydney from March 1 and Adelaide from May 2 to further strengthen our operations in the country.” says Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker.

The flight service will be operated by the new-generation Airbus A350, which just made its inaugural commercial flight this year. It features 36 spacious lie-flat business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. Each set converts to an 80-inch fully flat bed and has its own 17-inch high-definition personal video screen. www.qatarairways.com