Qantas partner Qatar Airways kicks off its Doha-Adelaide flights today, bringing the advanced Airbus A350-900 to the South Australian capital.

But it’s more than just another pin in Qatar’s growing network map: the route also marks Australia’s very first Airbus A350 commercial service, ahead of selected Thai Airways Melbourne-Bangkok flights from July 1 2016.

The fuel-efficient jet offers business class travellers 36 spacious and fully-flat beds en route to Doha…

… each stretching to 80 inches or 203cm when in bed mode and offering a 17-inch, high definition personal video screen.

You’ll also find a walk-up bar in the centre of the business class cabin: an almost-unique feature for an aircraft of this size with neighbouring rivals Emirates and Etihad skipping the feature on all but their flagship Airbus A380 aircraft.

Read: Airbus A380 ‘bar wars’: Qatar, Emirates and Etihad

Qatar Airways’ inaugural Doha-Adelaide flight, QR914, touches down at 4:25pm on Tuesday May 3 after pushing back at 9:35pm in Doha yesterday evening, and continues as a 5pm arrival on future dates as a daily service.

On the return, flight QR915 is wheels-up at 9:25pm in Adelaide for an arrival into the Qatari capital at 4:50am the following morning: allowing for onward connections to Europe and the UK.

Australia has been a major point of expansion for Qatar Airways, which joined the global Oneworld airline alliance in late 2013 and launched Sydney-Doha flights in March 2016, with plans to upgrade the route’s Boeing 777 to an Airbus A380 from June.

Also on the agenda this year are more Airbus A350 flights for the region with fellow Oneworld partner Cathay Pacific earmarking the next-gen jet for its existing Hong Kong-Auckland route from the second half of 2016.

Qantas Frequent Flyer members can earn both points and status credits when flying with Qatar Airways and also Cathay Pacific on eligible fares, with the Roo recently boosting your haul of status credits on Qatar’s Australian services.

Also browse: Qatar Airways Airbus A350 photo tour

Chris Chamberlin is visiting Adelaide as a guest of Qatar Airways.

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