Confirmed: Qatar Airways Adds Daily Doha-Sydney Service From 2016

Yesterday I posted an article about Qatar’s recently renegotiated “air services agreement” with the Australian government and suggested (just like the rest of the travel world) that this would lead to Qatar Airways finally joining Emirates and Etihad in offering a non-stop service between the Middle East and Sydney (Qatar Airways already flies to Melbourne and Perth).

Well, the confirmation wasn’t long in coming.

Today, Qatar Airways has announced that it will commence non-stop service between Doha and Sydney from 1 March 2016 using its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

The service will run daily on the following schedule:

QR908 DOH 20:10 – 18:05+1 SYD
QR909 SYD 22:20 – 05:05+1 DOH

The route’s timings look good for connections to/from London, Paris, Frankfurt, Barcelona and Milan but not that great for other major European cities – that’s still not a bad choice of cities for Europeans to use.

The good connections:

Connections to/from London:

Two of Qatar Airways’ non-stop flights from Heathrow arrive into Doha at 16:55 and 18:05 respectively and with a 07:45am flight from Doha to London connections to/from Sydney should work well.

Connections to/from Paris:

Qatar Airways has three non-stop services from Paris to Doha but only the 10:30 departure (arriving at 17:55) will work for an onward connection to Sydney. For the return trip, the 08:25 non-stop service from Doha to Paris should work just fine.

Connections to/from Frankfurt:

The earlier of the two non-stop flights (departing 11:25) will just about be ok for anyone connecting on to Sydney…but any delays and it could be tight. The flight arrives in to Doha at 18:25 leaving a scheduled connecting time of just 1hr 45mins. On the return journey the later of the two non-stop flights (departing 08:00) will work well.

Connections to/from Barcelona:

The earlier of the two non-stop services (10:20) arrives in to Doha at 17:45 – so that’s perfect for a relaxed connection on to Sydney – and, on the return, the 08:10 departure to Barcelona rounds off what should be a good route to use.

Connections to/from Milan:

The earlier of the two non-stop services to Doha is scheduled to arrive at 17:50, which leaves over 2 hours to connect on to Sydney. The 08:25 non-stop service between Doha and Milan makes the rerun connection an easy one as well.

The less good connections:

Connections to/from Brussels:

Qatar Airways’ non-stop flight from Brussels arrives into Doha at 17:55 – which would work well for the outbound connection – but the inbound non-stop service departs at 01:50 so travelers would need to make a second stop (probably in London) to get home.

Connections to/from Rome:

The two non-stop flights from Rome to Doha both arrive too late (or too early) to connect to the new Sydney service (23:10 and 05:15) so travelers from Rome would be better off routing via Milan. There’s better news for the return journey where an 08:15 non-stop departure should work perfectly.

Connections to/from Amsterdam:

Travelers from Amsterdam share a problem with their counterparts flying from Rome – the outbound non-stop flight to Doha arrives too late to make the Sydney connection (23:15). The news is better for flights going the other way where the 08:25 departure from Doha to Amsterdam will be just right for travelers on their way to Europe.

Connections to/from Copenhagen:

Out of the two non-stop flights between Copenhagen and Doha only the earlier departure (11:05) gets in to Doha in time to catch the Sydney flight. On the return journey the early departure (01:40) leaves too early while the later departure (14:05) will require a 9+ hour layover in Qatar.

Connections to from Oslo:

The outbound non-stop flight will work well for anyone wanting to connect to Sydney (it gets in to Doha at 18:00) but the single non-stop flight in the opposite direction departs at 01:20 meaning that travelers will either have a 24+ hour layover in Qatar or a second connection in Europe will be needed to get home.

Connections to/from Stockholm:

While the outbound non-stop service would work just fine for a connection to Sydney (arrives Doha at 18:00) the one and only non-stop service on the return journey departs at 01:30…which wouldn’t work at all.

Connections to/from Madrid:

Despite having two non-stop flights between Madrid and Doha neither is scheduled to arrive in time to connect on to Sydney (arrive 19:30 and 23:10). The return journey is better with the 07:50 departure to Madrid looking the best option.

The Offering:

The 777-300ER aircraft that Qatar Airways will use to fly the Doha-Syney route will undoubtably be equipped with their newer business class cabin:

and the economy class cabin should look something like this:

Importantly, the economy class cabin is set out in a 3-3-3 configuration (9 across seating) which is important in this day & age where airlines (American & Emirates for example) are squashing 10 seats across their economy cabins – let’s hope Qatar doesn’t follow suit.

Overall I’m pretty excited about this new route. Clearly flights in business class (or better) out of the UK will be expensive but there should be plenty of options for anyone happy to fly out of continental Europe (that would be me). Now it would be nice to see Qatar Airway extend some of its very good business class sales to include its Australian routes.

All images courtesy of Qatar Airways.