Qatar Airways has announced a further expansion of its route network in Africa with Djibouti joining its ever-growing list of destinations served direct from the airline’s Doha hub. The carrier will inaugurate a three times weekly link to Djibouti’s Ambouli International Airport from July 27, 2014, operated using a two-class, 144-seat Airbus A320.

This announcement comes as Qatar Airways prepares for a busy few months ahead with the launch of scheduled flights to Philadelphia and Larnaca in April; Edinburgh and Istanbul Sabiha in May; Miami and Tokyo Haneda in June and Dallas/Fort Worth in July.

Bordered by Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, Djibouti has an economy that is largely concentrated in the service sector and the country has limited international air services – a void Qatar Airways hopes to fill with its expanding international network of routes via its Doha hub.

“Djibouti is another example of Qatar Airways’ commitment to opening up access to destinations that are largely underserved by international airlines and have great market potential,” said Akbar Al Baker, chief executive officer, Qatar Airways. “Just in September last year we launched thrice-weekly operations to neighbouring Ethiopia. We believe that these exciting destinations in the “Horn of Africa” have great potential linking up with key feeder markets in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and other parts of the world.”

Qatar Airways will be the first of the big three Gulf hub carriers to serve Djibouti. Although Air France does offer a link to Paris and Turkish Airlines has a link to Istanbul, most passengers from Djibouti currently use the flights of Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways and connect onward from East Africa’s largest hubs at Addis Ababa and Nairobi.

In our analysis we look at the top 15 served and unserved O&D markets from Djibouti in 2013. United Arab Emirates (UAE) low-cost carrier, flydubai, is currently the largest carrier from Djibouti’s Ambouli International Airport with a 17.4 per cent share of traffic in 2013, closely followed by Ethiopian Airlines (15.6 per cent), Daallo Airlines (14.4 per cent), Jubba Airways (13.9 per cent). The data shows that Emirates Airline had a2.5 per cent share of the demand from Djibouti’s largest airport through codeshare arrangements with partner carriers.