The flowers were flown from India, South Africa, Uganda, Thailand, and The Netherlands.

Roses were among the unlikely passengers onboard Qatar Airways flights on Valentine’s Day earlier this month, ready to be sent to lovers across the globe.

Qatar Airways Cargo successfully transported millions of flowers weighing more than 5000 tonnes of carnations and roses for Valentine’s Day. The flag carrier’s QR Fresh solution helped store the flowers in a maintained, temperature-controlled environment during the transport.

“We are glad to help spread tonnes of love and cheer around the world by introducing additional capacity and freighters on our key routes to support our customers. Understanding the nature of these delicate flowers, we have special processes in place to ensure a seamless cold chain for their transport,” said Guillaume Halleux, Qatar Airways Chief Officer Cargo.

Eight Cargo Boeing’s 777 freighters from Quito, Ecuador, transported flowers to European and Australian markets, as well as three others to Miami, which serves one of the largest flower distribution hubs in the US.

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Additionally, 13 mini freighters and five Boeing 777 freighters operated from Nairobi while some were also transported from Bogotá.

Key countries also included The Netherlands – a key global flower exporter for more than 200 years – India, South Africa, Uganda, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia among many other countries. 

According to aviation sites, this would be Qatar Airways’ fifth Valentine season from Ecuador, second from Colombia and sixteenth season from Kenya.

In the past year alone, Qatar Airways Cargo transported almost 32,000 tonnes of flowers.

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