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| QATAR BOEING 777-3DZ A7-BAE (MSN 36104) |
Qatar Airways says it wants to expand its market in Australia, raising the possibility of twice-daily flights to Sydney and Brisbane plus three flights a day into Melbourne.
That was the Gulf carrier’s goal in 2023, when it asked the Australian government to permit an increase in flights between Qatar and Australia – a request which was controversially denied, sparking anger from travellers, airports and businesses at a time of high airfares as well as concern over the influence wielded by Qantas in blocking the proposal.
A subsequent wide-reaching Senate inquiry turned the spotlight on this usually dry corner of the airline industry, with one of its recommendations being that the Qatar Airways decision be overturned.
In the following months, Turkish Airlines received a massive and unexpected boost to its Australian prospects with an immediate allocation of 21 flights per week – which has seen Melbourne-Istanbul flights take off, with Sydney-Istanbul slated to follow by year’s end – increasing to 28 flights per week next year, and 35 flights per week by 2025.
While Qatar Airways is currently entitled to 28 flights per week, it faces a strict limit on how many flights per week it can offer from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane under a strict “bilateral air rights” agreement with the Australian government.
That schedule now stands at double-daily flights from its Doha hub to Melbourne with one daily service from Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
However, the Qatari flag-carrier had been seeking to add 21 more flights - or one extra service per day – into Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
“I don’t think is a very big ask to the authorities” stated then-Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker at the time, aiming for a goodwill decision based on the airline continuing to operate international flights to Australia during the pandemic at a time when many international airlines stopped flying.
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