Qatar to fly to Brisbane; add more Sydney, Melbourne, Perth flights
Qatar Airways will begin daily flights to Brisbane, while increasing services to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth
By David Flynn, March 26 2020
Qatar Airways is bringing Brisbane under its wing, with the launch of a daily flight connecting the Queensland capital to Qatar's Doha hub and, beyond that, an extensive network into the UK, Europe and Africa.
The Oneworld member will launch Brisbane-Doha flights on March 29 using a Boeing 777-300ER.
However, Brisbane is – for now – only a short-term addition, with flights running through to mid-April.
At the same time, and for the same two-week period, Qatar plans to increase its presence in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
- Sydney will see a third daily service, with a mix of the Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 777-300EE
- Melbourne will shift up to twice-daily, also on an Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 777-300ER
- Perth also goes double-daily, with the Airbus A380 superjumbo complemented by a Boeing 777-300ER
With the exception of Perth's Airbus A380, all of the Australian flights will feature the highly-regarded Qsuite business class.
Qatar Airways' Qsuite business class.
Review: Why Qatar Airways' Qsuite is the world's best business class
Here's how Qatar Airways' amplified Australian schedule shapes up, with new flights marked in bold.
- QR907: Sydney (3.50pm) to Doha (11.45pm) - Boeing 777-300ER
- QR999: Sydney (8.45pm) to Doha (5.05am) - Boeing 777-300ER
- QR909: Sydney (9.15pm) to Doha (5.30am) - Airbus A350-1000
- QR906: Doha (9.15am) to Sydney (6.30am) - Boeing 777-300ER
- QR998: Doha (7pm) to Sydney (4.25pm) - Boeing 777-300ER
- QR908: Doha (8.30pm) to Sydney (5.55pm) - Airbus A350-1000
- QR905: Melbourne (9.35pm) to Doha (5.25am) - Airbus A350-1000
- QR995: Melbourne (3pm) to Doha (10.50pm) - Boeing 777-300ER
- QR994: Doha (9.05am) to Melbourne (6am) - Boeing 777-300ER
- QR904: Doha (8.35pm) to Melbourne (5.30pm) - Airbus A350-1000
- QR912: Doha (8pm) to Brisbane (5.20pm) - Boeing 777-300ER
- QR913: Brisbane (9.20pm) to Doha 5.20am) - Boeing 777-300ER
- QR905: Perth (10.45pm) to Doha (5.35am) - Airbus A380
- QR991: Perth (3.45pm) to Doha (10.35pm) - Boeing 777-300ER
- QR900: Doha (1.50am) to Perth (6.20pm) - Airbus A380
- QR990: Doha (8.40pm) to Perth (1.10pm) - Boeing 777-300ER
The new flights represent an extra 48,000 seats hitting the Australian market at a time when more and more people are looking to get home.
"We know there are many people who want to be with their families and loved ones during this difficult time," says Qatar Airways Group CEO, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker.
"We are thankful to the Australian Government, airports and staff for their support in helping us to add additional flights to get people home, and in particular, to bring flights to Brisbane."
While most Australians are currently prevented from leaving the country under a nation-wide travel restriction, there are still plenty of foreign nations – from executives to holiday-makers – currently in Australia who are eager to return home.
However, the total grounding of airlines such as Emirates Etihad, along with a decision by Singapore and Hong Kong to ban transit passengers, has increasingly removed options from the table.
Homeward bound
Earlier this week, the UK government urged all British travellers abroad to return immediately, while commercial flight options are still available.
"Around the world, more airlines are suspending flights and more airports are closing, some without any notice," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Monday in a statement. "If you are on holiday abroad, the time to come home is now, while you still can."
Qatar Airways, which only last week was ready to follow other airlines in scaling back its flights and winding down its Airbus A380 fleet, is now adding flights and relying on the superjuimbo to help get more passengers home.
“It’s a great test of a company’s agility and flexibility right now, because every time you’ve got a plan, the world changes when you wake up the next morning,” Simon Talling-Smith, Qatar Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer, tells Executive Traveller.
“But it’s clear there is such a very strong desire amongst people all over the world to get home, so that is what we are wholly focused on right now – how can we get people home from right around the world.”
Qatar Airways' network
Popular European destinations which still see Qatar Airways flights include Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Istanbul, London, Munich, Paris, Rome Vienna and Zurich.
Also remaining on Qatar's network map in the Americas: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, São Paulo and Washington DC.
There are a half-dozen destinations in Africa, among them Cape Town and Johannesburg, and twenty more across Asia.
A regularly-updated list of all cities to which Qatar Airways flies is available at qatarairways.com.
Read more: As people hurry home, Qatar boosts flights and brings back the A380
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Sep 2018
Total posts 153
I assume this is only made possible due to not flying to Adelaide? I thought Qatar was restricted from flying to too many Australian destinations. Always made sense for them to fly to Brisbane.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Apr 2017
Total posts 134
Yes, they are only allowed to fly a fixed number of frequencies to the major capital cities (28 a week, or once per day to 4 cities) - Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide. They have been petitioning to change this for years, but I believe their OneWorld partner Qantas is against it.
They can fly as much as they want to “regional” airports - Canberra, Gold Coast, Cairns, Wagga Wagga etc.
They are also allowed to fly at least one service from a regional airport to Doha with a stop in a major city. Hence why they used to fly Canberra to Sydney to Doha as it allowed them to get a second flight out of Sydney.
I would have thought (in normal times) that Brisbane would have been more lucrative then Adelaide.
24 Apr 2012
Total posts 2441
The previous weekly cap on Australian flights did not apply to Adelaide: only Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane.
08 Feb 2018
Total posts 161
does the cap no longer exist Chris?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Nov 2017
Total posts 325
My guess it's a series of charters to get people from Oz back home due to the C-19 situation, once the charters are done, the usual bilaterals are back in place and QR winds things down.
Otherwise ET is one week early on the April Fools.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 462
Not charters - the flights are available for sale to anyone on QR's website.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1027
Australian Air Service Agreements tend to place limits of either flights per week or seats per week to the 4 major ports (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth) and allow unlimited elsewhere (eg, Canberra, Darwin, Adelaide, Gold Coast, etc).
There doesn't appear to have been a change to the AU-QR agreement. It is still showing as limited to 21 flights/week which is their daily flights to Perth, Melbourne and 1xSydney.
They get their second Sydney flight via the clause in the AU-QR agreement that allows an extra 7 flights/week to a limited port, provided it is to/via a regional port (Thus their flights to Canberra).
It would appear that these extra flights are temporary ad hoc flights that the AU government has allowed them to operate to help get people home.
26 Mar 2020
Total posts 1
Is the Brisbane route and the increases to SYD, MEL, and PER a temporary arrangement due to coronavirus or from now on? Surprised that if this is an ongoing thing, Adelaide wasn't put back onto the schedule sooner.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Nov 2017
Total posts 325
The BNE route is likely temporary to get people home (both ways) due to the C-19 crisis.
Etihad - Etihad Guest
06 Apr 2012
Total posts 124
There is some irony in that an ME3 carrier is adding seats and services between AU and Europe at this time that so many Qantas and Virgin international services have been cancelled and the staff stood down..
01 Aug 2019
Total posts 14
Melb getting less and less of the A380's
British Airways - Executive Club
28 Mar 2014
Total posts 70
But gaining qSuites. Bonus :-)
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Oct 2016
Total posts 96
Whilst the 380 is nice, two flights a day is much better, hope that ends up being permanent when things return to (somewhat) normal! Helps to get to Europe and UK earlier in the day.
Air New Zealand - Airpoints
23 May 2013
Total posts 44
Smart move re Brisbane.... gives them quite a strong position when this is all over to negotiate with the government on continuing the flight
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Nov 2018
Total posts 4
Welcome logistics solution for quite a few people right now, plus smart strategic PR move to elevate it above other ME airlines at this time, as there's no love lost between Doha and the UAE, home of Emirates or Etihad. Their business product really is so good. I can understand why QF would be very wary of letting them in too deeply into the Aussie market.
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