Qatar Airways to restart Brisbane flights on May 20

QATAR A350-1000 A7-ANB (CN 102)

Qatar Airways is returning to Brisbane, with the Oneworld airline scheduling three flights per week beginning on the 20th May as it continues to bring Australians home during the coronavirus pandemic. The flights will take place on Qatar's Airbus A350-1000, which boasts the highly-regarded business class Qsuites, with QR912 departing Doha at 11.55pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through until the end of June (the last service Brisbane listed is for Monday the 29th June), to reach Brisbane at 8.45pm the following day. All arriving passengers will need to spend 14 days in mandatory isolation at a Brisbane hotel, under quarantine measures introduced on the 29th March, with accommodation and food costs covered by the government. The QR913 return leg departs Brisbane at 10.15pm the following day. Australian citizens and permanent residents wishing to be on that flight need to hold an exemption from the current nationwide travel restrictions. Exemptions can be granted for a number of cases including essential travel "for the conduct of critical industries and business" or for urgent and unavoidable personal business, as well as to receive urgent medical care not available in Australia or travelling on compassionate or humanitarian grounds. Qatar Airways' Doha hub still permits passengers in transit, unlike the transit bans now in place at Dubai, the home of Emirates, Abu Dhabi (Etihad Airways), Singapore (Singapore Airlines) and Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific). "It’s clear there is such a very strong desire amongst people all over the world to get home, so that is what we are wholly focused on right now – how can we get people home from right around the world," Simon Talling-Smith, Qatar Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer, tells Executive Traveler. Qatar Airways previously called on Brisbane through a short-term series of daily flights between March 29 and mid-April, at the same time as it ramped up services to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
The airline continues to fly to 16 destinations in Europe – including London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam – with plans to add seven more European destinations by the end of June as it slowly rebuilds its worldwide network.