Qatar Airways has saved its big announcement for the year at ITB in Berlin, with it announcing sweeping changes to the network.
There’s a lot to go through, so let’s dive in.
Expect a lot more of these in the air in 2023.
The airline is adding 7 new destinations to the network, whilst restoring connections to 11 cities.
Coming to the Qatar Airways Network during 2023
- Chittagong (Bangladesh)
- Juba (South Sudan)
- Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Lyon (France)
- Medan (Indonesia)
- Toulouse (France)
- Trabzon (Turkey)
Returning to the Qatar Airways network during 2023
- Beijing (China)
- Birmingham (UK)
- Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- Casablanca (Morroco)
- Davao (Philipines)
- Marrakesh (Morocco)
- Nice (France)
- Osaka (Japan)
- Phnom Penh (Cambodia)
- Ras Al-Khaimah (United Arab Emirates)
- Tokyo Haneda (Japan)
Network capacity increases
Meanwhile, the existing network is getting major boosts, with 35 destinations getting an increase in flight frequency:
Europe
- Athens – increased from seven weekly flights to 14
- Belgrade – increased from five weekly flights to seven
- Berlin – increased from 11 weekly flights to 14
- Bucharest – increased from 10 weekly flights to 14
- Copenhagen – increased from four weekly flights to seven, and 10 from winter season 2023/24 (Finnair also operates 7 weekly) flights, totalling 17 weekly in Copenhagen
- Dublin – increased from 12 weekly flights to 14
- Düsseldorf – increased from seven weekly flights to 11 for winter season 2023/24
- Edinburgh– increased from 10 weekly flights to 14
- Larnaca – increased from seven weekly flights to 14
- London Gatwick – increased from seven weekly flights to 10 (14 weekly flights for peak summer season)
- London Heathrow – increased from 42 weekly flights to 45
- Madrid – increased from 16 weekly flights to 18
- Milan – increased from 16 weekly flights to 21
- Oslo – increased from seven weekly flights to 12 for winter season 2023/24
- Sarajevo – increased from three weekly flights to four for the summer 2023 season
- Sofia – increased from three weekly flights to four weekly flights in summer and five weekly flights in winter season 2023/24
- Stockholm – increased from three weekly flights to five for winter season 2023/24 (Finnair also operates 7 weekly flights), totalling 12 weekly in Stockholm
- Vienna – increased from 10 weekly flights to 14
- Warsaw – increased from seven weekly flights to 14 from winter season 2023/24
- Zagreb – increased from four weekly flights to seven
- Zurich – increased from 10 weekly flights to 14
Africa
- Abuja – Port Harcourt – increased from two weekly flights to three
- Abuja – Kano – increased from three weekly flights to four
- Cairo – increased from 21 weekly flights to 28
- Khartoum – increased from seven weekly flights to 14
Asia
- Denpasar – increased from 14 weekly flights to 21
- Hanoi – increased from 10 weekly flights to 12
- Hong Kong – increased from 11 weekly flights to 14
- Manila – increased from 17 weekly flights to 18
- Mogadishu – increased from three weekly flights to four
- Phuket – increased from 14 weekly flights to 21 for winter season 2023/24
- Saigon – increased from 10 weekly flights to 12
Others
- Nagpur – increased from four weekly flights to seven
- Taif – increased from three weekly flights to seven
- Yerevan – increased from seven weekly flights to 10
In Quotes
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Mr Akbar Al Baker, said:
“Qatar Airways is dedicated to enrich the global community which it serves. As the World’s Best Airline, we are excited to offer more ways of bringing the world together, increasing connectivity and bridging gaps within the travel industry. As we expand our fleet, network, partnerships and international presence we look forward to working together to deliver sustainable growth and a compelling future for the industry.
“We continue to look forward to our bright future here in Qatar, with multiple projects lined up for 2023 and beyond, such as the Formula 1 partnership and much more. Qatar will continue to be a global hub of connectivity and an ideal destination for tourism, long after the great success of the historic FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.”
Returning links, Restoring capacity
It seems that Qatar Airways is gearing up for a very busy line indeed, as it restores further connections that were dropped in March 2020, as well as seven new destinations (and a direct route to Toulouse will be useful for a quick meeting with a certain aviation company).
But the real news in the announcement is the capacity increases – with routes restored, the time now comes to build out additional flights and capacity as needed to ensure the passenger flow at Hamad International Airport continues to grow and thrive.
Whilst its described as sustainable growth, a massive jump in connectivity is something to keep an eye on, ensuring there are enough aircraft and crews to ensure the services operate.
It’s going to be a busy summer in Doha, that’s for certain.
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