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The recent collapse in diplomatic relations between Qatar and the majority of its Middle Eastern neighbors is probably not something the CEO of Qatar Airlines would consider to be a positive for his airline. But, while regional tensions are certainly not helpful to Qatar Airways, the airline does appear to be making lemonade as the world around it hands it lemons.
With the airline no longer allowed to fly to (or overfly) the majority of countries in its immediate vicinity Qatar Airways finds itself with a surplus of aircraft and cabin crew for those aircraft….and it’s now attempting to make the most of that situation.
British Airways has already been a beneficiary of Qatar Airways’ short-haul aircraft surplus as it has wet-leased 7 of its A320 aircraft to help combat the current cabin crew strike it’s attempting to get through unscathed.
Flight Radar showing 7 Qatar Airways A320s enrolee from Doha to London to save BA’s skin
Back in the middle of June Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al Baker gave this quote to Al Jazeera News:
You know that, not too long ago, I announced that I was going to increase to twenty-four new destinations, I couldn’t do it because I had capacity restraints. Now that we have a release, capacity from the eighteen destinations, that we have been barred illegally from operating, we are now going to accelerate the other regions of the world, where we feel that we will mitigate the reduction in passenger numbers from this eighteen destinations. So Qatar Airways has a robust plan B, to continue our march ahead.
Al Baker is known for saying quite a few things, and not all of them necessarily come to pass, but on this occasion he appears to be true to his word (at least so far).
Doha – Prague Route Launching Early
From 21 August 2017 Qatar Airways will begin operating flights to/from Prague using its Airbus A320 aircraft. The published schedule looks like this:
QR289 DOH 02:30 – 07:40 PRG (Tue, Thur, Sat)
QR291 DOH 08:00 – 13:10 PRG (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun)
QR290 PRG 09:25 – 16:25 DOH (Tue, Thur, Sat)
QR292 PRG 17:10 – 00:10+1 day DOH (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun)
And that’s not the only route that’s been brought forward….
Doha – Soha Launching In August
From 8 August 2017 Qatar Airways will begin flights to/from Soha in the Sultanate of Oman on the following schedule:
QR1132 DOH 13:20 – 16:10 OHS (Tue, Thu, Sat)
QR1133 OHS 17:10 – 18:05 DOH (Tue, Thu, Sat)
Other Planned Routes
Per Qatar Airways the route expansion is not ending there (did anyone think it would?):
Other new destinations planned for the remainder of this year and 2018 include Canberra, Australia; Chiang Mai, Thailand.; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; San Francisco, U.S.; and Santiago, Chile. A total of 25 new destination launches will take place throughout 2017-2018.
Clearly all of these are subject to market conditions so, until the first flights have actually taken off to these new destinations, I’m going to remain cautious on all of these routes (let’s not forget the difficult birth the Doha-Auckland route had).
Qatar Airways Airbus A320 – A Warning
There could be a bit of an issue here and I think passengers will need to be careful.
Ordinarily I’m of the opinion that, if at all possible, travelers should avoid flying long haul routes (such as Doha – Prague) in the Business Class cabins of narrow body aircraft (such as the A320). This is because most airlines have truly woeful Business Class cabins on their smaller aircraft and those that aren’t woeful are mostly plain bad and not worth the expense….but I usually make an exception in the case of the Qatar Airways A320.
Qatar Airways A320 Business Class
I’ve flown a roundtrip between Pisa and Doha in the Business Class cabin of a Qatar Airways A320 (a review will be published soon) and found it to be a perfectly nice cabin to fly in.
Sure, if you have the option between an A320 and a larger aircraft like a Dreamliner or Airbus A350 those last two will be a better option….but the Qatar Airways A320 Business Class Cabin is actually not bad at all…..
Qatar Airways A320 Business Class
….at least not the Qatar Airways A320 we’re used to seeing on European routes so far.
In the Qatar Airways press release announcing the new Prague route this is the detail that’s given about the aircraft being used:
The new Prague and Sohar routes will be served by an Airbus A320 aircraft featuring 12 seats in Business Class and 132 seats in Economy Class.
But, if you check SeatGuru.com, you’ll find that the Qatar Airways A320 with that particular configuration is listed as having “recliner seats” in Business Class.
The Qatar Airways A320 which offers “12 flat bed seats with 180 degree recline” (i.e. lie-flat Business Class seats) is configured with 12 seats in Business Class and just 120 in Economy.
So is Qatar Airways planning on using A320 aircraft that do not offer lie-flat seating in Business Class on its newest European route?
Taking a look on Qatar Airways’ website doesn’t really clear things up either:
“Available on select aircraft” just means “some of our A320’s have lie-flat seating while others don’t” – this doesn’t tell us if the A320’s on this particular route will or will not have lie-flat Business Class seats.
It’s entirely possible Qatar Airways will not offer lie-flat seating on this route (Etihad already does this)…… and to a degree it would make sense.
The routes Qatar Airways is currently not allowed to fly are regional routes on which you wouldn’t necessarily expect an airline to operate Business Class cabins with lie-flat seating (the flights are generally not long enough to warrant such seating)….so the surplus aircraft that the airline now has would, presumably, be more likely to be aircraft with regional configurations.
If we’re to take Qatar Airways at its word and it’s really using surplus aircraft to start up the Prague route early, then there’s every chance this route really doesn’t have lie-flat seating in Business Class.
That changes the appeal of this route dramatically.
Bottom Line
While the issues Qatar is having with its neighbors may be bad news for travelers in that region, it would appear that it may offer a little bit of good news for the rest of us who enjoy traveling on Qatar Airways to all corners of the world. If the surplus of aircraft the airline is currently facing means that new routes get brought forward and put into operation sooner than planned, then at least something positive (although comparatively minor) is coming out of all this…..but we will need to know exactly which seats these new routes will offer.
A new route with great seats is one thing…..but a long haul route served by aircraft with a regional configuration is a route to avoid if at all possible.
I have one further reservation: What happens to the new routes that have been launched using surplus aircraft once Qatar normalizes relations with its neighbors? Presumably the airline will need aircraft to restart all the routes it currently isn’t allowed to fly so will Qatar Airways have enough aircraft to keep all routes flying?
Featured image: Prague Sunset courtesy of Wiki Commons Media
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