Qatar Airways is relaunching flights to seven destinations, including Miami, by mid-December. The airline is also increasing services to key routes such as New York and Chicago, and adding two new destinations this year.
Since it’s low of roughly 30 destinations in April, Qatar Airways has been steadily growing back its route map in the last few months. The airline plans to reach 125 destinations by the end of the winter season and has already reached over 100 destinations as of October. Starting this month, Qatar is adding flights to the following destinations:
- Algiers (2x weekly from 13th November)
- Kyiv (3x weekly starting 18th December)
- Miami (2x weekly starting 14th November)
- Phuket (2x weekly starting 4th December)
- Seychelles (3x weekly starting 15th December)
- Tbilisi (1x weekly started 5th November)
- Warsaw (3x weekly starting 16 December)
In addition to its route resumptions, Qatar Airways is also increasing its services to two US cities this winter. New York will see two daily flights starting 14th November, while Chicago will see nine weekly flights from 15th November. The increase in capacity likely indicates high demand on the two routes in the upcoming winter holidays.
New destinations
While this year’s crisis has undoubtedly impacted the airline, Qatar is still looking for opportunities to add new destinations. Starting December, Qatar Airways will offer a once-weekly service to Luanda, Angola. The route was originally scheduled to begin in March 2020 but was delayed due to the current crisis. The new destination will also put the airline in competition with Emirates, which flies to the city twice-weekly.
Qatar Airways’ much-anticipated route to San Fransico is on track start on 15th December and will operate four times a week. The airline will use the A350-900 with QSuites on the 15hr journey from Doha. San Francisco also marks Qatar’s 9th destination in the US, as the airline continues to expand despite the current conditions.
Diversified fleet
Qatar Airways is quick to highlight the benefits of its diversified fleet as it continues to expand its route map. Qatar operates a fleet of A380s, A350s, 777s, 787s, A330s, A320s, and A319s, giving it a mix of many narrowbody and widebody planes. This flexibility has allowed Qatar to continue flying throughout the pandemic and not suspend operations like many airlines.
This stands in stark contrast to ME3 competitor Emirates, which only operates a fleet of high-capacity 777s and A380s. Qatar CEO Akbar Al Baker has been quick to criticize airlines flying the A380, saying it makes little economic sense and adversely affects the environment. Instead, Qatar Airways had made good use of its 787-8 fleet, allowing it to continue flying even with low demand.
Source: simpleflying.com