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Qatar Airways is undoubtedly one of the best airlines in the world (especially if you’re flying in Business Class) and thanks to some of the amazing premium cabin fares that it offers between Europe and Asia it’s also one of the more popular airlines too.
That’s why the news that the airline is launching 8 new routes between March and November 2020 will bring a smile to quite a few people’s faces…and to mine in particular thanks to one specific route coming later this year.
Qatar Airways New Routes
Qatar Airways yesterday used the Kuwait Aviation show to announce that it would be launching 8 new routes to destinations in Asia, Africa, and Europe starting in March this year and here’s what we know about the new routes so far:
Angola
Staring on 14 October 2020 Qatar Airways will offer four weekly flights between Doha and Luanda using its Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
QR1489 DOH 02:10 – 09:05 LAD (Thu & Sun)
QR1491 DOH 08:25 – 15:20 LAD (Wed & Fri)
QR1490 LAD 12:30 – 23:45 DOH (Thu & Sun)
QR1492 LAD 18:00 – 05:15+1 day DOH (Wed & Fri)
Cambodia
Qatar Airways already offers a daily 777 service between Doha and the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh and, from 16 November 2020, it will be adding the city of Siem Reap to its network.
As things stand, the airline has scheduled its new (and yet to be delivered) Airbus A321neo LR aircraft to operate this route 5x/week… but all of this may change if there are any issues with aircraft deliveries.
Here’s the schedule as it appears in the system right now:
QR990 DOH 0235 – 1405 REP (Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat 7 Sun)
QR991 REP 1825 – 2240 DOH (Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat 7 Sun)
France
Lyon is the latest French city to get service from Qatar Airways and, as of 23 June 2020, travelers will be able to fly between Lyon and Doha 5x/week on Qatar Airways’ Dreamliners.
Here’s what the currently published schedule looks like:
QR051 DOH 08:20 – 13:50 LYS (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun)
QR052 LYS 16:35 – 23:30 DOH (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun)
Ghana
From 15 April 2020 Qatar Airways will offer a daily service between Doha and Accra (via Lagos) and the schedule currently shows the service being operated by the airline’s 787-8 Dreamliners.
QR1415 DOH 01:20 – 08:20 LOS 09:30 – 09:30 ACC (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun)
QR1417 DOH 07:05 – 14:05 LOS 15:15 – 15:15 ACC (Tue, Thu & Sat)
QR1416 ACC 10:40 – 12:55 LOS 14:05 – 00:50+1 day DOH (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun)
QR1418 ACC 16:25 – 18:40 LOS 19:50 – 06:20+1 day DOH (Tue, Thu & Sat)
Link to a Qatar Airways 787 Business Class review
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan will be getting two new routes from Qatar Airways – one to Almaty and one to Nur-Sultan (formerly known as Astana).
The new route between Doha and the capital city of Nur-Sultan is set to launch on 30 March 2020 and will be operated 2x/week by a Qatar Airways Airbus A320 on the following schedule:
QR393 DOH 19:05 – 03:05+1 day TSE (Tue & Fri)
QR394 TSE 04:05 – 06:30 DOH 320 (Wed & Sat)
The new route between Doha and Almaty (the most populous city in Kazakhstan) is set to launch on 1 April 2020 with 2 weekly flights increasing to 4 weekly flights from 25 May 2020.
The route will be operated by Qatar Airways A320 aircraft on the following schedule 9as at 25 May).
QR391 DOH 19:40 – 03:15+1 day ALA (Mon, Wed, Thu & Sun)
QR392 ALA 04:15 – 06:15 DOH (Mon, Tue, Thu & Fri)
Link to a Qatar Airways A320 Business Class review
Philippines
Qatar Airways will begin offering three weekly flights between Doha and Cebu from 8 April 2020. The airline is currently set to operate this route using its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners on the following schedule:
QR924 DOH 02:00 – 16:35 CEB (Wed, Fri & Sun)
QR925 CEB 18:30 – 23:55 DOH (Wed, Fri & Sun)
Turkey
Qatar Airways already offers a number of routes between Doha and cities across Turkey and, from 20 May 2020, the airline will be adding Trabzon (in Turkey’s Black Sea region) to its list of destinations.
The Doha – Trabzon route will be operated 3x/week by Qatar Airways Airbus A320 aircraft and, as things stand, this is what the schedule looks like:
QR319 DOH 15:45 – 19:10 TZX (Wed, Fri & Sun)
QR320 TZX 20:10 – 23:20 DOH (Wed, Fri & Sun)
[HT: Routes Online for all the timings]
Thoughts
I’m not going to suggest that I’m particularly excited to see Trabzon, Almaty, Nur-Sultan or Accra appear in the Qatar Airways schedules, but I’m very happy to see Lyon being added and I’m delighted to see Qatar Airways finally add Siem Reap to its network.
With Lyon we’re getting yet another European city to which Qatar Airways offers service and this means that we’re getting yet another city out of which there’s a reasonable chance that Qatar Airways will, from time to time, offer some truly fantastic Business Class fares.
That makes me happy.
With Siem Reap joining the Qatar Airways network we’ll finally have a route between Europe and Angkor Wat operated entirely by Qatar Airways and, as Angkor Wat is at the very top of my list of places I’d like to visit and as I have every hope that I’ll be able to find a great Business Class fare out of a city like Stockholm, Oslo or Gothenburg, this makes me ecstatic!
I had a trip to Siem Reap/Angkor Wat in my sights for this year but, thanks to a particularly foolish mistake, I missed out on a great deal and I haven’t found a comparable deal since.
That trip would have involved a change in Doha and a change in Bangkok (to a low-cost carrier) but now I’m more than happy to wait for Qatar Airways to get its service up and running and to book a 1-stop trip that sees me travel in a good Business Class cabin (at a great price) all the way.
As an added bonus I may even get to try out the new Qatar Airways A321neo LR – that would make for a very good review.
Bottom Line
More Qatar Airways routes mean more routes on which we’ll be able to book some of the better Business Class cabins around and, for oneworld loyalists, more routes on which they pick up miles/Avios and credits towards elite status – that should make quite a few people happy.
Search for great Business Class fares on QatarAirways.com
