Qatar Airways Will Fly Its QSuites To Australia From June 2018

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UPDATE 6 June 2018: Qatar Airways has scheduled Qsuite service to/from Sydney and Canberra starting 21 July 2018 (more details via this link)

The Qatar Airways QSuites are undoubtably the benchmark for a world-class Business Class hard product but, so far, they’re only available on a very select number of routes as the airline gradually refits its 777-300ER aircraft.

I was expecting the next QSuite route announcement to be whichever route gets the brand new (and soon to be delivered) Airbus A350-1000 but that’s not to be the case.

According to AUBT, Akbar Al Baker (CEO of Qatar Airways) used a press conference to celebrate the start of Qatar Airways’ new service to Canberra to declare that Australia will soon get the QSuites treatment.

In a comment to AUBT Al Baker is quoted as saying “[f]rom June you will receive a QSuite every day unless, we have a technical issue with one the airplanes”

The inaugural flight to Canberra (via Sydney) offered the airline’s lauded new product but that was just a one-off scheduling. For the time being the route will offer the old-style 777 cabin shown below.

As far as old-fashioned Business Class seating goes these aren’t actually too bad (I know a lot of taller travelers who actually prefer these seats to the newer ones found on the A380/B787/A350 thanks to the amount of leg room they offer) but they don’t compare to the QSuite:

Qatar Airways QSuite

Qatar Airways QSuite

As things stand Qatar Airways offers a daily flight to Canberra (via Sydney) on the following schedule:

QR906 DOH 08:10 – 06:15+1 day SYD 07:25+1 day – 08:25+1 day CBR
QR907 CBR 13:45 – 14:45 SYD 15:55 – 22:30 DOH

In typical Al-Baker style he didn’t give any specific start date for the QSuite launch on the Sydney/Canberra route but the announcement makes a lot of sense.

While it’s understandable that the airline wants to showcase its best Business Class product on its most high-profile routes (e.g. New York & London), it also makes sense for the best product to be offered on the longest routes offered by Qatar Airways….and Doha-Sydeny-Canberra definitely falls into that category.

Note: Sydney and Canberra are unlikely to be the next route to get the Qatar Airways QSuite – that will be whatever route the new Qatar Airways A350-1000 flys after it’s delivered on 20 February 2018.