Marwan Koleilat, senior vice-president for Asia-Pacific at Qatar Airways, speaks at a press conference on Tuesday in Beijing. Photo: Courtesy of Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways said on Tuesday that it will launch flights to Dubrovnik, Croatia, on May 18, the latest move by the carrier to expand its global network.

The seasonal flights to Dubrovnik will be operated by an Airbus A320 aircraft, featuring 12 seats in business class and 132 seats in economy class. Initially the service will comprise three flights per week, expanding to five times a week from June 15 to October 4, 2020, according to a note sent to the Global Times. 

The carrier also said on Tuesday that it has signed a new memorandum of understanding with the China Youth Development Foundation to donate a further 500,000 yuan ($72,452) to the Qatar Airways Hope School in Guangyuan, Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Qatar Airways is the first foreign carrier to build a Hope School in China's Sichuan Province following the devastating earthquake in 2008. It is also the first and only Middle-Eastern carrier to have participated in Project Hope, one of the most influential philanthropic programs in China.

From January 2020, the carrier started codeshare cooperation with China Southern Airlines on flights between Guangzhou and Doha, and Beijing and Doha, based on an agreement signed last year in which Qatar Airways acquired 5 percent of China Southern Airlines.

It first began flying to China in 2003 with a service from Doha to Shanghai. It currently operates 45 weekly flights to seven China gateways - Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu and Hong Kong.