Qatar Airways’ inaugural flight to Chicago landed at O’Hare International Airport on April 10, making the airline’s fourth gateway in the United States. According to a press release from the airline, there was a grand ceremony at the airport to welcome the flight QR991. An important number of dignataries attended this ceremony, including the Ambassador of Qatar to the United States of America, Mohamad Bin Abdulla Al-Rumaihi, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker, and other airport officials. 

With the launch of thrice-weekly passenger services between Chicago and Qatar Airways’ hub in Doha, capital of the State of Qatar, Chicago becomes the destination number 126 in the airline’s worldwide network. Qatar Airways now operates 24 passenger flights a week between the United States and Doha – daily from New York, Washington DC and Houston and the new thrice-weekly services from Chicago. 

Effective on June 15, the Chicago-Doha route will increase to a daily service. Meanwhile, the company has also announced its plans to launch scheduled flights to two destinations in Iraq, starting this summer. 

Flights to Basra are expected to begin on June 3; services to Sulaymaniyah will start on August 20. Qatar Airways began operations to Iraq last summer with flights to the capital, Baghdad, and Erbil in January 2013, increased the services reaching Najaf.