Qatar Airways to launch Hangzhou, a worthwhile alternative to Shanghai & with its own local market

Qatar Airways intends to launch four weekly A330 services from Doha to Hangzhou in eastern China, 138km from Shanghai, where Qatar Airways already operates a daily service. Hangzhou becomes Qatar's sixth Chinese destination, bestowing Qatar with the title of serving more Chinese cities than any other non-Asian carrier. The previous holders of this title were KLM and Lufthansa with five cities.

Hangzhou can be an alternative to Shanghai thanks to a high-speed rail link that connects the two cities in as little as 45 minutes. But Hangzhou also has its own local market, including one of China's wealthiest - and by some counts the wealthiest - population pool. Hangzhou is also near significant trading ports.

In Hangzhou Qatar will join Ethiopian Airlines and KLM, the only other non-Asian carriers at the airport, China's 10th largest. This is a two-part report with this first part looking at Hangzhou both for its own market and as an alternative to congested Shanghai. The second part will look at the overall positioning of Emirates, Etihad, Qatar and Turkish Airlines in China.