Qatar Airways has celebrated the arrival of its first flight from Doha to Sydney, making this the airline’s third gateway into Australia

A delegation of VIPs from Qatar, including Qatar Airways group chief executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker, were met from the aircraft by local dignitaries.

The airline operates a Boeing 777-300 daily from Doha to Sydney connecting Australian passengers to its global network of more than 150 destinations. Qatar Airways has been serving Australia since 2009 when it commenced flights to Melbourne, later adding flights to Perth in 2012.

Al Baker said touching down in Sydney for the first time “is an important milestone for Qatar Airways and for the people of Australia”.

“We are delighted to be able to offer passengers flying from Sydney the opportunity to connect to more than 150 places on our global network via our state-of-the-art airport in Doha,” he continued.

“We look forward to taking the people of Sydney to the places they want to go on our modern aircraft, and giving them a taste of the Arabian hospitality and comfort that earned us the aviation industry’s most prestigious title of Skytrax Airline of the Year in 2015.”

The new route to Sydney is expected to generate an estimated 3,000 jobs in New South Wales and contribute more than AUD $240 million to the local economy.