Qatar Airways is to launch a daily flight from Cardiff Airport to its hub in Doha, Qatar, in 2018. The new service will be the first regular direct long-haul flight linking Wales and South West England to a major global hub in the Gulf region. It will allow business and leisure travellers to fly directly from their local airport via Doha to a choice of over 150 destinations across the globe in Asia, Australasia, Africa and the Middle East. The new service from Cardiff will be the latest addition to a growing network of destinations that Qatar Airways serves across the UK and Ireland. The airline currently flies from London Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh, and will commence services from Dublin on 12th June 2017.