Qatar Airways returns to Canberra

Qatar Airways will return to Canberra on December 9, reconnecting the Australian capital with Doha and beyond.

There’ll be four flights per week on a Boeing 777 equipped with business class Qsuites and fast free Starlink WiFi.

As before, these won’t be direct flights to Doha – they’ll run via Melbourne, as an extension of the current QR988/QR989 service, with the 18-hour trek being broken up by a 2½-hour Melbourne stopover in both directions.

QR989 will depart Canberra at 12:30pm and reach Doha at 10:25pm; QR988 will depart Doha at 8:25am, arriving into Canberra at 8:30am the following day

The Oneworld member is expected to make these daily flights from late March 2027.

Canberra Airport CEO Stephen Byron applauded Qatar Airways’ return as a “strong vote of confidence in the Canberra market, (giving) Canberrans better global connectivity and more competition.”

The airline’s presence would also “support tourism, trade, business travel, education and visiting friends and relatives across the ACT and surrounding region.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has recently lowered its travel advice for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which reactivates the eligibility of travel insurance for peace of mind.

Qatar Airways’ Australian presence is now back at full strength, with daily flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

All of these rely on the workhorse Boeing 777s, which are also leased to local partner Virgin Australia for its own VA-numbered flights from Australia to Doha.

Virgin has now recommenced its Sydney–Doha and Melbourne–Doha services, with Brisbane–Doha and Perth–Doha – which were previously scheduled to resume from 15 September 2026 – now slated to restart from 8 and 9 December 2026, respectively.