14 Routes: Qatar Airways & American Airlines’ Growing Doha-North America Network Explored

In mid-December, Qatar Airways will lift off from Doha to Toronto, becoming the oneworld member’s second Canadian route. It will replace codeshare partner

Air Canada on the 5,885 nautical mile (10,899 km) airport pair, which last served it between 2020 and 2023 amid the most difficult of times.

Qatar Airways’ entry—it briefly served Toronto in 2020 to repatriate Canadians—must reflect a loosening of the Qatar-Canada bilateral agreement that determines market access. There is no indication that Montreal flights will be reduced to enable Toronto to begin. When the first flight takes off, I will cover it in my jam-packed weekly newsletter.

A Qatar Airways Boeing 777 flying in the sky.

Qatar Airways Adds Toronto Flights—Where Else Should It Fly In North America?

Qatar Airways has revealed that it will begin flying from Doha to Toronto on December 11 in time for Christmas, New Year, and peak travel to India.It will run three times weekly on the 354-seat Boeing 777-300ER. The carrier seemingly operated in 2020 but only temporarily to repatriate Canadians.The airport pair was last served by Air Canada in the most difficult of periods: from 2020 to 2023. It existed due to its codeshare agreement with Qatar Airways.Flights will return, this time with Qatar Airways, becoming that carrier’s second Canadian destination after Montreal. This means it will have a 10 times weekly operation: daily to Montreal and three times weekly to Toronto. Clearly, it has benefited from a loosening of the Canada-Qatar bilateral.Qatar Airways passenger jets will now serve 13 US/Canadian airports: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston Intercontinental, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, New York JFK, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and Washingto

Qatar Airways to Toronto: a summary

The route will begin on December 11, less than two and a half months from being available to book, which is very little lead time. Qatar Airways’ existing presence in Canada (Montreal) and the fact that the market was previously served will partly offset this. Qatar Airways is launching it quickly to capture Christmas and New Year demand.

Obviously, the route will have little to do with the Doha-Toronto point-to-point demand, which totaled 19,000 roundtrip passengers in the year to July 2024. Toronto was Doha’s largest unserved North American market. Like the carrier’s broader network, it will be about connections over Doha.

Relevant Toronto origins and destinations with 30,000+ roundtrip passengers include the following, with many left out because they are too far out of the way. Tehran and Dhaka will probably be especially important to Qatar Airways, just as booking data shows they are from Montreal. The same data indicates that more people flew Toronto-Montreal-Doha-Kathmandu than anywhere else.

What is the schedule and why?

It will operate three times weekly on the 354-seat Boeing 777-300ER, with this frequency dictated by what is left in the bilateral agreement. The schedule is as follows, with all times local.

The take-off and landing times in Qatar broadly correspond to the airline’s main North American departure and arrival banks, driving connectivity over Doha. However, the 09:50 departure time is quite late, suggesting longer and less competitive waiting times.

Now 14 Doha-North America routes

Based on the December week when Toronto flights will lift off, Doha’s North American passenger network will comprise the following routes. They include Philadelphia, operated by fellow oneworld member and partner

American Airlines, with Philly being its fourth-busiest hub.

Qatar Airways served Philadelphia from April 2014 until October 2023, when American replaced it. American ended JFK-Doha and Qatar Airways consequently grew there.

Qatar Airways Is Acquiring 25% Of Virgin Australia: What Do You Think?

While subject to approval, Qatar Airways hopes to become a 25% shareholder of Virgin Australia. It is its latest investment and comes soon after it acquired 25% of South Africa’s regional unit, Airlink.One part of the agreement with Virgin is for that carrier to use widebody aircraft again. The airline had A330s and 777-300ERs until 2020; some 777s are with Qatar Airways.This time, Virgin’s aircraft would fly to Doha, effectively on behalf of Qatar Airways. Various carriers do so, including British Airways, China Southern, Finnair, Garuda Indonesia, Iberia, and Japan Airlines.It would be a way for Qatar Airways to circumvent the restrictive Qatar-Australian bilateral air service agreement, which limits its presence in the ever-popular Australia.ASAs are usually reciprocal: each country has the same traffic rights. Given this, Virgin plans to use the other half of the ASA to fly to Qatar, boosting Qatar Airways’ connectivity over Doha. By mid-2025, Virgin is expected to fly to D

Up to 18 daily flights in December

Qatar Airways and American will have 120 weekly one-way flights to North America in December when Toronto flights begin. Daily take-offs will vary from 16 on Thursdays and Saturdays to 17 on Mondays and Tuesdays and—because of Toronto—18 on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

Snapshot: Wednesday, December 11

As an example of activity, these flights will leave Doha on this specific day. You can see that Toronto is quite out there in that bank of departures.