Qatar Airways makes its Philadelphia debut

Qatar Airways launched service to Philadelphia on Wednesday, kicking off daily round-trip service to its hub in Doha.

Philadelphia becomes the carrier's fifth city in the United States, joining New York JFK, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare and Houston Bush Intercontinental.

Miami will become Qatar's sixth U.S. destination when it begins flying there in June. Flights to Dallas/Fort Worth -- to be Qatar's seventh U.S. city -- will start in July.

As for Philadelphia, Qatar Airways new route will connects of the newest hubs in the oneworld frequent-flier network. Qatar Airways, of course, joined the oneworld group last year. US Airways, which has one of its largest hubs in Philadelphia, switched to the oneworld alliance on March 31 as part of its ongoing merger with American.

The new service was lauded by Philadelphia officials.

"This is a huge deal for us," Mark Gale, CEO of Philadelphia International, says to CBS Philadelphia. "Tied with the merger of US Airways and American Airlines and this airport becoming a oneworld Alliance hub, an East Coast gateway. We think there's just a tremendous amount of positive impact."

With the debut of its Doha flights, Qatar Airways becomes the first new foreign-flag carrier start service to Philadelphia since Swissair in 1990, Gale adds to The Philadelphia Inquirer.