filipinoavgeek wrote:

While emissions is probably not the main reason for the QR retirements (contrary to their public statements), I don't think it's irrelevant like what some people here seem to be implying. Environmental impact was also cited as a major reason for AF retiring their fleet (even before COVID) and has also been cited by Qantas I think (think the infamous "two 787s cost less than one A380" statement).

Indeed this sounds like a statement with some truth but ultimately is a way to knock EK. Possibly also to direct some of the environmental ire in the EU at EK with their big fleet of a380s. Knowing that EK is stuck with some of this fleet for the foreseeable future it’s probably an attempt to leverage the situation to its advantage, I’d doubt QR or AAB stay up at night with concerns over carbon emissions. As many have said it was not a big deal for them to retire any of the a380, but this extracts maximum political points over what was already an inevitable move.

Akbar Al Baker:Qatar Airways will continue taking delivery of all aircraft on order.

https://www.aerotime.aero/26982-qatar-a ... ar+airways

Qatar Airways is increasing U.S. flights and resuming Atlanta: https://www.qatarairways.com/en/press-r ... s-releases

- Atlanta (four weekly flights starting 1 June)
- Chicago (increasing to 10 weekly flights from 4 March)
- Dallas-Fort Worth (increasing to 10 weekly flights from 2 March)
- Houston (increasing to daily flights from 14 March)
- Miami (increasing to three weekly flights from 3 July)
- San Francisco (ramping up to daily flights by 2 July)
- Seattle (four weekly flights starting 29 January and ramping up to daily flights by 1 July)

Also hoping someone can figure this out:

The new DFW frequency arrives in DFW at 8:50 AM but doesn't depart for DOH until 11:35 PM. Are they really going to have a 777-200LR stay grounded for 14 hours? Or is there something else planned here?

Ishrion wrote:

Qatar Airways is increasing U.S. flights and resuming Atlanta: https://www.qatarairways.com/en/press-r ... s-releases

- Atlanta (four weekly flights starting 1 June)
- Chicago (increasing to 10 weekly flights from 4 March)
- Dallas-Fort Worth (increasing to 10 weekly flights from 2 March)
- Houston (increasing to daily flights from 14 March)
- Miami (increasing to three weekly flights from 3 July)
- San Francisco (ramping up to daily flights by 2 July)
- Seattle (four weekly flights starting 29 January and ramping up to daily flights by 1 July)

Also hoping someone can figure this out:

The new DFW frequency arrives in DFW at 8:50 AM but doesn't depart for DOH until 11:35 PM. Are they really going to have a 777-200LR stay grounded for 14 hours? Or is there something else planned here?

I think this has something to do with the resumption of flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam. The airline wants to capture some traffic to the US from the UAE and Saudi Arabia

Wow the Mia frequency looks bad. Its the last to see an increase and at only 3 x weekly. Really pathetic. I wonder if this has to do with the ever delaying cruise industry start?

xwb777 wrote:

Ishrion wrote:

Qatar Airways is increasing U.S. flights and resuming Atlanta: https://www.qatarairways.com/en/press-r ... s-releases

- Atlanta (four weekly flights starting 1 June)
- Chicago (increasing to 10 weekly flights from 4 March)
- Dallas-Fort Worth (increasing to 10 weekly flights from 2 March)
- Houston (increasing to daily flights from 14 March)
- Miami (increasing to three weekly flights from 3 July)
- San Francisco (ramping up to daily flights by 2 July)
- Seattle (four weekly flights starting 29 January and ramping up to daily flights by 1 July)

Also hoping someone can figure this out:

The new DFW frequency arrives in DFW at 8:50 AM but doesn't depart for DOH until 11:35 PM. Are they really going to have a 777-200LR stay grounded for 14 hours? Or is there something else planned here?

I think this has something to do with the resumption of flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam. The airline wants to capture some traffic to the US from the UAE and Saudi Arabia

I actually completely forgot about the gulf routes feeding into their international network. Wow this is really big for QR. plus they have the most superior product in the gulf region which should also help. wow. also looking at potential flights from London to Dubai (not going anywhere just exploring) and they are really affordable. Particularly for Qsuite

miaintl wrote:

Wow the Mia frequency looks bad. Its the last to see an increase and at only 3 x weekly. Really pathetic. I wonder if this has to do with the ever delaying cruise industry start?

LOL at the drama, man. It relies entirely on local traffic on the Miami end with limited international connectivity, unlike most of the other destinations that have domestic great connectivity. And yeah, cruise traffic delays will obviously be detrimental to traffic volume on this route. What else do you expect? They'll add back frequencies when cruises start back up.

Miami is already operating and flights are going out fairly full under the circumstances.

Also, Qatar has placed MIA back in GDS for April and May, which I know is disappointing for some to hear.

Will ATL and BOS ever go back to daily?

I'm surprised that IAH is going back to daily soon (March). Pre-COVID, IAH had the worst load factors of all their US flights (IAD was occasionally lower).

MAH4546 wrote:

miaintl wrote:

Wow the Mia frequency looks bad. Its the last to see an increase and at only 3 x weekly. Really pathetic. I wonder if this has to do with the ever delaying cruise industry start?

LOL at the drama, man. It relies entirely on local traffic on the Miami end with limited international connectivity, unlike most of the other destinations that have domestic great connectivity. And yeah, cruise traffic delays will obviously be detrimental to traffic volume on this route. What else do you expect? They'll add back frequencies when cruises start back up.

Miami is already operating and flights are going out fairly full under the circumstances.

Also, Qatar has placed MIA back in GDS for April and May, which I know is disappointing for some to hear.

MIA will be QR’s least served US destination. That tells anyone all they need to know about how little MIA means to QR. Even with their partner AA having a massive hub with tons of connections. The fact ATL will see more service and no AA partner is impressive.

MAH4546 wrote:

Atlanta suspension will be extended in exchange. In addition, from March 28th onwards Qatar will extend its codeshare partnership with AA to include MIA international flying.

So Atlanta suspension will be extended huh MAH4546? Riiiight.....

acavpics wrote:

Will ATL and BOS ever go back to daily?

I'm surprised that IAH is going back to daily soon (March). Pre-COVID, IAH had the worst load factors of all their US flights (IAD was occasionally lower).

Not sure why it wasn’t mentioned in the press release but when searching QR’s website looks like BOS is going from the current 3x weekly to 5x (no Tues or Thursday’s). I was looking in July. I’m sure it’ll be daily shortly.

acavpics wrote:

Will ATL and BOS ever go back to daily?

I'm surprised that IAH is going back to daily soon (March). Pre-COVID, IAH had the worst load factors of all their US flights (IAD was occasionally lower).

I guess cargo makes up for it, though QR flight from IAH has tons of corporate contracts.

Happy to see QR being ambitious though.

Does anyone know when the cruise industry starts in MIA again?

clrd4t8koff wrote:

MAH4546 wrote:

miaintl wrote:

Wow the Mia frequency looks bad. Its the last to see an increase and at only 3 x weekly. Really pathetic. I wonder if this has to do with the ever delaying cruise industry start?

LOL at the drama, man. It relies entirely on local traffic on the Miami end with limited international connectivity, unlike most of the other destinations that have domestic great connectivity. And yeah, cruise traffic delays will obviously be detrimental to traffic volume on this route. What else do you expect? They'll add back frequencies when cruises start back up.

Miami is already operating and flights are going out fairly full under the circumstances.

Also, Qatar has placed MIA back in GDS for April and May, which I know is disappointing for some to hear.

MIA will be QR’s least served US destination. That tells anyone all they need to know about how little MIA means to QR. Even with their partner AA having a massive hub with tons of connections. The fact ATL will see more service and no AA partner is impressive.

MAH4546 wrote:

Atlanta suspension will be extended in exchange. In addition, from March 28th onwards Qatar will extend its codeshare partnership with AA to include MIA international flying.

So Atlanta suspension will be extended huh MAH4546? Riiiight.....

Yes, the Atlanta extension was indeed extended. Atlanta was to resume March 28th. It is now resuming. June 1st. Thanks for pointing out that I was correct, not only was I correct that Miami was never going to suspended, but I was also correct that the suspension of Atlanta would be extended.

Unlike every other destination, Miami has literally no feed with limited open borders, so it’s not a surprise it’s at 3w for the time being. Also, while all airports have of course seen international service be decimated, Miami maintains far more long haul links than others, including places like Atlanta, where Qatar’s can capture more demand simply off lack of competition. But, honestly, Miami will probably boost to 4-5x weekly fairly quickly, I’d bet even sooner than July, as Qatar continues to adjust schedules on a rolling, monthly basis.

Miami has more nonstop flights a week to Doha than Orlando has to London. That’s all the story you need to know about the strength of Miami right now compared to its peers. Makes you question how unimportant and poor performing a market for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Orlando must be, but that’d be for another thread.

miaintl wrote:

Does anyone know when the cruise industry starts in MIA again?

Not until the US freely opens up again for tourism.
But once that happens, there will be thousands of ship crew to bring back first from all over the world.
Which will be a boost for airlines serving MIA.

LH658 wrote:

acavpics wrote:

Will ATL and BOS ever go back to daily?

I'm surprised that IAH is going back to daily soon (March). Pre-COVID, IAH had the worst load factors of all their US flights (IAD was occasionally lower).

I guess cargo makes up for it, though QR flight from IAH has tons of corporate contracts.

Happy to see QR being ambitious though.

not really, there's not much cargo that is going on the pax flights given payload restrictions. And given almost zero International business travel, any "corporate contracts" means nothing in this environment.

Any chance of the 77W coming back to BOS?

Apparently the 787-9s will be operating north American routes so watch out for that. EIS (passenger service) is slated for March 2021

CALMSP wrote:

LH658 wrote:

acavpics wrote:

Will ATL and BOS ever go back to daily?

I'm surprised that IAH is going back to daily soon (March). Pre-COVID, IAH had the worst load factors of all their US flights (IAD was occasionally lower).

I guess cargo makes up for it, though QR flight from IAH has tons of corporate contracts.

Happy to see QR being ambitious though.

not really, there's not much cargo that is going on the pax flights given payload restrictions. And given almost zero International business travel, any "corporate contracts" means nothing in this environment.

I am sure during holidays it was busy lot of travelers going to Asia and Africa, though not sure about the a350, but the 777lr they sent that use go off with cargo as it had no restrictions.

TC957 wrote:

miaintl wrote:

Does anyone know when the cruise industry starts in MIA again?

Not until the US freely opens up again for tourism.
But once that happens, there will be thousands of ship crew to bring back first from all over the world.
Which will be a boost for airlines serving MIA.[quote='clrd4t8koff']

Cruises are now allowed to resume and America is open for domestic tourism (which is the majority of cruise passengers), they have voluntarily paused.

Also to note Miami is being upgauged to the largest plane in Qatar's flying fleet, the 777-300ER. It will actually have more capacity than Atlanta, which is on Qatar's smallest plane, the 777-200L, by a slight hair.

Opus99 wrote:

Apparently the 787-9s will be operating north American routes so watch out for that. EIS (passenger service) is slated for March 2021

Definitely the right aircraft for the new SFO and SEA routes. I wonder if the recently announced double frequencies for DFW and ORD will also be served by the Dreamliner.

guillermohs wrote:

Opus99 wrote:

Apparently the 787-9s will be operating north American routes so watch out for that. EIS (passenger service) is slated for March 2021

Definitely the right aircraft for the new SFO and SEA routes. I wonder if the recently announced double frequencies for DFW and ORD will also be served by the Dreamliner.

As of right now based off dummy bookings it looks like the extra frequencies will be on the 777-200LRs. Of course that could change

With QR adding at least 7 destinations (blockading countries) and possible many frequencies to these destinations, will QR un-retire some of the grounded planes and rehire some of the redundant staff? DOH is about to get very busy, even with the pandemic.

Qatara340 wrote:

With QR adding at least 7 destinations (blockading countries) and possible many frequencies to these destinations, will QR un-retire some of the grounded planes and rehire some of the redundant staff? DOH is about to get very busy, even with the pandemic.

I'm sure they will fly the grounded planes and rehire staff on less favorable terms. Qatar has a lot going for itself with the world cup in 2022.

But honestly after today's covid news I feel 2021 may be worse than 2020.

acavpics wrote:

Will ATL and BOS ever go back to daily?

I'm surprised that IAH is going back to daily soon (March). Pre-COVID, IAH had the worst load factors of all their US flights (IAD was occasionally lower).

Are you sure about IAD ? It was one of the first US destinations to get the high density cabin when QR began retrofitting 777s from 9 abreast to 10 abreast, and one of the first to get QSuite. Seems like an important market to me

iadadd wrote:

acavpics wrote:

Will ATL and BOS ever go back to daily?

I'm surprised that IAH is going back to daily soon (March). Pre-COVID, IAH had the worst load factors of all their US flights (IAD was occasionally lower).

Are you sure about IAD ? It was one of the first US destinations to get the high density cabin when QR began retrofitting 777s from 9 abreast to 10 abreast, and one of the first to get QSuite. Seems like an important market to me

IAD used to perform better than JFK and IAH when QR only served those destinations in the US. It was a target for the A380 prior to the delivery of the aircraft.

The IAD route was affected by a few things:

1. At some point QR was the only one of the ME3 to serve IAD, then EK and EY moved in.
2. Loss of UA feed when the partnership ended.
3. Loss of US government traffic when the codeshare with AA ended during the US3/ME3 spat.
4. Loss of the traffic to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain between 2017-2021.

The last two points won't be an issue anymore going forward.

MAH4546 wrote:

clrd4t8koff wrote:

MAH4546 wrote:

LOL at the drama, man. It relies entirely on local traffic on the Miami end with limited international connectivity, unlike most of the other destinations that have domestic great connectivity. And yeah, cruise traffic delays will obviously be detrimental to traffic volume on this route. What else do you expect? They'll add back frequencies when cruises start back up.

Miami is already operating and flights are going out fairly full under the circumstances.

Also, Qatar has placed MIA back in GDS for April and May, which I know is disappointing for some to hear.

MIA will be QR’s least served US destination. That tells anyone all they need to know about how little MIA means to QR. Even with their partner AA having a massive hub with tons of connections. The fact ATL will see more service and no AA partner is impressive.

MAH4546 wrote:

Atlanta suspension will be extended in exchange. In addition, from March 28th onwards Qatar will extend its codeshare partnership with AA to include MIA international flying.

So Atlanta suspension will be extended huh MAH4546? Riiiight.....

Yes, the Atlanta extension was indeed extended. Atlanta was to resume March 28th. It is now resuming. June 1st. Thanks for pointing out that I was correct, not only was I correct that Miami was never going to suspended, but I was also correct that the suspension of Atlanta would be extended.

Unlike every other destination, Miami has literally no feed with limited open borders, so it’s not a surprise it’s at 3w for the time being. Also, while all airports have of course seen international service be decimated, Miami maintains far more long haul links than others, including places like Atlanta, where Qatar’s can capture more demand simply off lack of competition. But, honestly, Miami will probably boost to 4-5x weekly fairly quickly, I’d bet even sooner than July, as Qatar continues to adjust schedules on a rolling, monthly basis.

Miami has more nonstop flights a week to Doha than Orlando has to London. That’s all the story you need to know about the strength of Miami right now compared to its peers. Makes you question how unimportant and poor performing a market for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Orlando must be, but that’d be for another thread.

Huh?? QR was always selling ATL all the way thru May 31st and now announces an official restart and upgrade to the ATL route starting June 1st. I even posted about this two weeks ago much to your dismay...

clrd4t8koff wrote:

MAH4546 wrote:

clrd4t8koff wrote:

And it’s official - QR drops MIA yet again. With the exception of LY why can’t MIA keep a single ME or Asian carrier?

Not official at all. Should be back in GDS at months end. Atlanta suspension will be extended in exchange. In addition, from March 28th onwards Qatar will extend its codeshare partnership with AA to include MIA international flying.

For whatever reason, Qatar has been filing many destinations on a two month rolling basis. It cleared the April/May default schedule (which was the summer 2020 schedule) and it won’t file final April/May for a few more weeks.

I remember you claimed that Qatar would never return to MIA, and that El Al would not either. MIA has kept all three of its Middle East region airlines - El Al, Qatar, and Turkish - through the pandemic. As you know, there haven’t been other airlines from Asia providing passenger service to Miami, neither pre-COVID nor in the entire history of the airport. So please let me know, what Asian airline are you referring to?

If Qatar flying to Miami during COVID makes somebody upset, then what Emirates is looking to do with its Florida service in the next year will not sit well with those people.

No, I never claimed LY would never return to MIA. Yes, I did claim QR wouldn't return. I'll admit to being half wrong about that. With the exception of extremely spotty and intermittent service which has been removed from the schedules yet again starting in April they really haven't returned.

So, if QR cleared the April/May default schedule then why is ATL flights for sale again April/May and MIA removed?

Sources - qatarairways.com
Source (Google Flights) - https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s ... QAFIAZgBAg

Your comment about MIA having more service to DOH than MCO does to the UK is laughable. MIA-DOH is a FRACTION of the MCO-UK market. Nobody is flying MIA-DOH. Travelers going MCO-UK are local markets not connecting. Did you question how little value BOS & SFO - London were when both BA & VS cut them for a while? What is your point?? It’s baseless....

On top of that who cares ATL gets the 77L and MIA the 77W
Both are Qsuites.
77L with 259 seats x 4 weekly flights = 1,036 seats
MIA 77W with 354 seats x 3 weekly flights = 1,062 seats

ATL wins still with frequency. They both have the same J cabin
Capacity.

Bigant0408 wrote:

guillermohs wrote:

Opus99 wrote:

Apparently the 787-9s will be operating north American routes so watch out for that. EIS (passenger service) is slated for March 2021

Definitely the right aircraft for the new SFO and SEA routes. I wonder if the recently announced double frequencies for DFW and ORD will also be served by the Dreamliner.

As of right now based off dummy bookings it looks like the extra frequencies will be on the 777-200LRs. Of course that could change

QR is starting SEA-DOH service in a few days with 77W, but it will move to the A359...not sure exactly when.

lalib wrote:

But honestly after today's covid news I feel 2021 may be worse than 2020.

A.net is becoming the new Reddit with all the pessimism.

https://simpleflying.com/qatar-seattle-boeing-777/

Whoever called the 787-9 for Seattle. Good job!

QR's SVP of revenue management said the 787-9 will most likely takeover the route from the 777 once the cabin has been outfitted. he also spoke about why the switch from the 350 initially to the 777

“First of all, we are a major Boeing customer, out of respect for Boeing, let’s start with the 777, number one. Number two, we are expecting a significant cargo, so we’ll take advantage of that. And number three, ultimately, we will put, probably, the 787-9 into Seattle.”

“We’ll start with one aircraft; we’ll see how aircraft become available or needed on other parts of the system and we’ll move them around as required as markets perform or outperform or grow better than we expected as cargo continues to increase. And then, once the 787-9s are fully outfitted, then that probably is going to be the perfect aircraft for Seattle. But then again, quite honestly, what we’re seeing as our initial traffic flows between us and Alaska in Seattle, the 787-9, a year from now, may be too small.”

Will SFO stay as a A350 or will it also move to a 787-9 route like SEA?

Opus99 wrote:

https://simpleflying.com/qatar-seattle-boeing-777/

Whoever called the 787-9 for Seattle. Good job!

QR's SVP of revenue management said the 787-9 will most likely takeover the route from the 777 once the cabin has been outfitted. he also spoke about why the switch from the 350 initially to the 777

“First of all, we are a major Boeing customer, out of respect for Boeing, let’s start with the 777, number one. Number two, we are expecting a significant cargo, so we’ll take advantage of that. And number three, ultimately, we will put, probably, the 787-9 into Seattle.”

“We’ll start with one aircraft; we’ll see how aircraft become available or needed on other parts of the system and we’ll move them around as required as markets perform or outperform or grow better than we expected as cargo continues to increase. And then, once the 787-9s are fully outfitted, then that probably is going to be the perfect aircraft for Seattle. But then again, quite honestly, what we’re seeing as our initial traffic flows between us and Alaska in Seattle, the 787-9, a year from now, may be too small.”

YYZORD wrote:

Will SFO stay as a A350 or will it also move to a 787-9 route like SEA?

Opus99 wrote:

https://simpleflying.com/qatar-seattle-boeing-777/

Whoever called the 787-9 for Seattle. Good job!

QR's SVP of revenue management said the 787-9 will most likely takeover the route from the 777 once the cabin has been outfitted. he also spoke about why the switch from the 350 initially to the 777

“First of all, we are a major Boeing customer, out of respect for Boeing, let’s start with the 777, number one. Number two, we are expecting a significant cargo, so we’ll take advantage of that. And number three, ultimately, we will put, probably, the 787-9 into Seattle.”

“We’ll start with one aircraft; we’ll see how aircraft become available or needed on other parts of the system and we’ll move them around as required as markets perform or outperform or grow better than we expected as cargo continues to increase. And then, once the 787-9s are fully outfitted, then that probably is going to be the perfect aircraft for Seattle. But then again, quite honestly, what we’re seeing as our initial traffic flows between us and Alaska in Seattle, the 787-9, a year from now, may be too small.”

I'm not sure, but i won't be surprised if they did

Does anyone know how the 787-9 will be configured?

MoKa777 wrote:

Does anyone know how the 787-9 will be configured?

30 business class suites and 281 economy seats for a total of 311 seats

(30J-281Y)

Opus99 wrote:

MoKa777 wrote:

Does anyone know how the 787-9 will be configured?

30 business class suites and 281 economy seats for a total of 311 seats

(30J-281Y)

Thank you. Seems like the cabin area is utilised fairly well on the B789 and makes me wonder if the cabin area of the A359 can be better utilised in the QR configuration...

MoKa777 wrote:

Opus99 wrote:

MoKa777 wrote:

Does anyone know how the 787-9 will be configured?

30 business class suites and 281 economy seats for a total of 311 seats

(30J-281Y)

Thank you. Seems like the cabin area is utilised fairly well on the B789 and makes me wonder if the cabin area of the A359 can be better utilised in the QR configuration...

It definitely can. I do think they will replace their oldest 359s soon enough though, maybe from mid decade, when they start to hit 10-12 years. They also have a lot of the first frames which will probably be heavier than the latest iteration

#QatarAirways has temporarily suspended acceptance of new bookings from UAE for the next 7 days due to UK government concerns. South Africa & Rwanda are also temporarily suspended – exceptions include GCC nationals & Resident Permit Holders returning to other GCC countries.

https://twitter.com/qatarairways/status ... 1427926019

Qatar Airways consistently has been second in the list of airlines that flew the most passengers from Nepal internationally for years now. They flew multiple wide bodies daily here before pandemic and have planned to fly 5-6 daily 787-8, A330-300 flights to Kathmandu from June 2021 which means daily passenger capacity of more than 2 Qatar A380. This made me think, why haven't other major hub and spoke airlines been able to do the same because almost 90 percent of the people that fly QTR from Nepal are the ones who have to connect somewhere and the rest are foreign workers. The other major hub airlines that fly here are Fly Dubai (Emirates) with 3 737 daily, Turkish with multiple A330-300 flights a week and Etihad with 1 A320 flight daily (all before pandemic), clearly much lower than what Qatar Airways did. So, why haven't they been able to challenge the dominance of Qatar Airways in Kathmandu?

Air India flies several flights a day. CX/KA had a daily a333 as well.

Antarius wrote:

Air India flies several flights a day. CX/KA had a daily a333 as well.

Air India has been flying 2-3 A320 at max per day and KA also had only 1 daily A333 but that's much less than what Qatar has been flying here. Qatar has been flying 3 A330-300 and 1 A320-200 here (before pandemic) which is higher than any other foreign airline. Plus since most Air India passengers from Nepal aren't flying a connecting flight, they are a different topic since the thread is about why Qatar has been able to fly to Kathmandu much more than any other major airlines that rely on hub and spoke.

I think part of the issue is there is a very high Nepalese worker population in Qatar, more so than in other Gulf states, so a lot of the QR traffic is point to point.

eta unknown wrote:

I think part of the issue is there is a very high Nepalese worker population in Qatar, more so than in other Gulf states, so a lot of the QR traffic is point to point.

Migrant workers make up a large portion of these flights, which is obviously something that most other airlines cannot take advantage of. Because of this then Qatar obviously has an edge when it comes to connecting passengers as they have more flight options. The Nepalese market demand overall is small.

Aseem747 wrote:

Qatar Airways consistently has been second in the list of airlines that flew the most passengers from Nepal internationally for years now.

What fraction of that international traffic do they carry? Why do you describe #2 as 'dominant'?

Aseem747 wrote:

Qatar Airways consistently has been second in the list of airlines that flew the most passengers from Nepal internationally for years now. They flew multiple wide bodies daily here before pandemic and have planned to fly 5-6 daily 787-8, A330-300 flights to Kathmandu from June 2021 which means daily passenger capacity of more than 2 Qatar A380. This made me think, why haven't other major hub and spoke airlines been able to do the same because almost 90 percent of the people that fly QTR from Nepal are the ones who have to connect somewhere and the rest are foreign workers. The other major hub airlines that fly here are Fly Dubai (Emirates) with 3 737 daily, Turkish with multiple A330-300 flights a week and Etihad with 1 A320 flight daily (all before pandemic), clearly much lower than what Qatar Airways did. So, why haven't they been able to challenge the dominance of Qatar Airways in Kathmandu?

The other airlines are constrained by profitability

MIflyer12 wrote:

Aseem747 wrote:

Qatar Airways consistently has been second in the list of airlines that flew the most passengers from Nepal internationally for years now.

What fraction of that international traffic do they carry? Why do you describe #2 as 'dominant'?

QR is twice the size of the next largest carrier, so it is a pretty dominant position. The largest is Nepal Airlines

Data from 2019

Antarius wrote:

MIflyer12 wrote:

Aseem747 wrote:

Qatar Airways consistently has been second in the list of airlines that flew the most passengers from Nepal internationally for years now.

What fraction of that international traffic do they carry? Why do you describe #2 as 'dominant'?

QR is twice the size of the next largest carrier, so it is a pretty dominant position. The largest is Nepal Airlines

Fly Dubai is the logical alternative, assuming pricing is comparable, experience onboard a QR widebody >>> Fly Dubai 737
Also, it seems QR have taken a lot of Fly Dubai business in 2019, as back in 2018 they were a lot closer in market share

eta unknown wrote:

I think part of the issue is there is a very high Nepalese worker population in Qatar, more so than in other Gulf states, so a lot of the QR traffic is point to point.

Like I said above, 80 plus percent Qatar Airways passengers have some connecting flight so it's not entirely the workers

Aseem747 wrote:

eta unknown wrote:

I think part of the issue is there is a very high Nepalese worker population in Qatar, more so than in other Gulf states, so a lot of the QR traffic is point to point.

Like I said above, 80 plus percent Qatar Airways passengers have some connecting flight so it's not entirely the workers

Not entirely workers but surely having such a large local demand helps to sustain 4 flights / day and in turn offer connectivity to the rest of the world.
In 2019, QR had close to 25% of its KTM route has local traffic, but more importantly, this is a total of 110,000 annual pax.

For comparison, EY had only 20,000 pax on local demand, which is why they only sustain 1 flight now, and had about 80% connecting passengers.
FZ carried 95,000 pax in 2019 on local demand to Dubai, still below QR to Doha. While we can argue that FZ connects well with EK, it becomes a bit challenging for them (FZ+EK) to sell long-haul Nepal to US with a product sub-par with QR. Hence why Qatar so far has been successful in Nepal over the gulf competition.

Is 787 allowed to fly to Nepal? I know there were some restrictions for 777 equipments in the past I think due to runway PCN limitations (I could be wrong), but for any airline to compete with QR there for long-haul they would need a wide-body capable economically to make the route profitable. I guess Etihad couldn't make it work on the A330 due to the lack of local demand to sustain 2x flights a day and connectivity to long haul, but EK has a market out of Dubai that can be a threat to QR

A330Inter wrote:

Is 787 allowed to fly to Nepal?

Both the 787 and A350:have operated into KTM.

MaverickM11 wrote:

Aseem747 wrote:

Qatar Airways consistently has been second in the list of airlines that flew the most passengers from Nepal internationally for years now. They flew multiple wide bodies daily here before pandemic and have planned to fly 5-6 daily 787-8, A330-300 flights to Kathmandu from June 2021 which means daily passenger capacity of more than 2 Qatar A380. This made me think, why haven't other major hub and spoke airlines been able to do the same because almost 90 percent of the people that fly QTR from Nepal are the ones who have to connect somewhere and the rest are foreign workers. The other major hub airlines that fly here are Fly Dubai (Emirates) with 3 737 daily, Turkish with multiple A330-300 flights a week and Etihad with 1 A320 flight daily (all before pandemic), clearly much lower than what Qatar Airways did. So, why haven't they been able to challenge the dominance of Qatar Airways in Kathmandu?

The other airlines are constrained by profitability