In the “stuff I’ve been waiting to happen” pile, it seems Qatar Airways has worked out how it will operate to Sydney, with the airline confirming it will now launch a Doha to Sydney route.
Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER at Hamad International Airport, Doha – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
Plans are in to operate a daily service between Doha and Sydney from the 1st March 2016, based on the following timetable:
QR908 DEPART DOHA 20:10 ARRIVE SYD 18:05+1 QR909 DEPART SYD 22:20 ARRIVE DOH 05:05+1 Booked Equipment: Boeing 777-300ER Commences: 01 March 2016 Operates Daily
Timings for this Oryx hop indicate that this flight should meet the early flights from Europe to Doha, and the return flights from Doha to Europe, as well as other points from the Qatar Airways network.
The exact configuration of the Boeing 777-300ER to be used has not been disclosed yet – with Qatar Airways operating three variants of the type, with one being a high density setup in the back of the plane.
It should be noted that both Etihad and Emirates operate 10-across down the back of the plane in a Boeing 777-300ER, whilst Qatar is late to the party – operating their 777 fleet in a 3-3-3 configuration (have a look at my trip report in a Qatar Airways 777-200LR for my views on their setup).
This will be the 3rd route to Australia for Qatar Airways – who currently operate to Perth and Melbourne on a daily basis.
With Qatar Airways joining the fight for passengers at Sydney, the big Middle Eastern Three will be represented at Melbourne, Perth and Sydney operating (at least) daily services between the Middle East and Australia.
In turn, this adds extra capacity to the Australia – and a further scramble for more passengers to fill those seats.
And if a route survives or not will be down to a mixture of loads and yield… and that could be the tricky part.
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