Qatar Airways will upgrade its current three-times-weekly service between Doha and Maputo, via South Africa’s largest city Johannesburg, to non-stop flights, from March 27, 2016, saving business travellers approximately five hours to the capital city of Mozambique.

The new service will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which features a two-class configuration, with 22 flat-bed seats in business class and 232 standard seats in economy; an award-winning entertainment system offering a fully interactive audio and video system of up to 2,000 programs; iTouch touch control unit; and iPort.

“Three years ago, Qatar Airways began flights to Maputo via Johannesburg, and over that time we have seen a consistent increase in demand resulting in today’s announcement, making our Maputo-Doha flights non-stop,” says Qatar Airways group chief executive Akbar Al Baker. “We are very pleased that we will now be able to provide leisure and business passengers shorter, more convenient flights when travelling between Doha and Maputo.”

Qatar Airways continues its remarkable network expansion with the addition of Los Angeles on January 1, and the planned launch of seven additional destinations in 2016: Adelaide; Atlanta; Birmingham; Boston; Ras Al Khaimah; Sydney; and Yerevan. www.qatarairways.com