Qatar Airways is rightfully regarded as one of the world’s most luxurious airlines, with its sleek silver and purple aircraft serving many of the world’s major hubs and high-value markets. Much like its fellow leading Middle Eastern carriers, Australia represents an important part of Qatar Airways’ long-haul offering, with the airline, which joined the oneworld
alliance in October 2013, serving five destinations.

Qatar Airways’ Australian operations in context

According to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Qatar Airways
has scheduled non-stop 372 flights on routes between its homeland and Australia this month. These fly to and from its main hub at Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Doha, Qatar, and will collectively offer grand totals of 147,498 seats and 1,049,249,560 available seat miles (ASMs). But how does this compare to its rivals?

Photo: Bradley Caslin | Shutterstock

The airline is part of the ‘Big Three’ of Middle Eastern carriers, with the other two being UAE flag carriers Emirates (based in Dubai) and Etihad Airways (based in Abu Dhabi). This December, Qatar Airways ranks second in terms of capacity on routes between Australia and the Middle East, sitting behind Emirates (with 619 flights offering 283,479 seats) and in front of Etihad (with 124 flights and 38,840 seats).

Qatar Airways was also the subject of an interesting recent development regarding Australia’s aerial connections with the Middle East. Indeed, earlier this month, Virgin Australia finalized a deal with the carrier that will see it wet lease Boeing
777s from Qatar Airways to operate its own routes from Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney to Doha next year, with Melbourne also set to be added in due course.

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1

Doha – Melbourne

21,948 seats in each direction

While Qatar Airways operates all of its routes from Doha to Australia on a daily basis, its corridor to Melbourne Airport (MEL) stands out from the rest by virtue of being served twice a day. In December 2024, this coverage amounts to 62 flights in each direction, offering 21,948 seats and 162,941,952 available seat miles each way. All of these flights use Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777-300ER widebody twinjets.

This works out at an average of 354 seats per flight, with current fleet data made available by aeroLOPA showing that the configuration used consists of two classes of travel. This figure is divided between 312 economy class seats in a 10-abreast 3-4-3 layout, with the front of the aircraft being occupied by 42 business class flatbeds in a 1-2-1 setup. These are examples of Qatar Airways’ luxurious QSuite.

Flying out to Melbourne, Qatar Airways’ services take 13 hours and 25 minutes, departing at 02:20 and 21:00 and arriving at 23:45 and 18:25 (the next day) local time respectively. In the return direction, these flights leave Melbourne closer together at 17:10 and 23:30, with their arrivals into Doha respectively taking place at 23:30 and 05:50 (the next day) local time, 14 hours and 20 minutes later.

Photo: Abdul N Quraishi – Abs | Shutterstock

An interesting fact about Qatar Airways’ Doha-Melbourne flights is the fact that one of these rotations continues on to Adelaide (ADL). This leg of the journey is not a fifth freedom flight, so passengers can’t solely travel on this section of the flight. However, the route operates as a loophole around restrictions concerning arrivals into Melbourne, as Adelaide is ultimately listed as the final destination.

2

Doha – Sydney

16,027 seats in each direction

As previously alluded to, Qatar Airways’ four remaining non-stop routes from Doha to Australia operate on a daily basis, meaning that each will see 31 round trips this December. However, the different types of aircraft used mean that there is sufficient distinction to instead rank these corridors by overall seating capacity for the month. In this regard, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD) places joint second.

Photo: Lukas Wunderlich | Shutterstock

However, we will examine this corridor, which has 16,027 non-stop seats with Qatar Airways in each direction this December, first on account of it having more available seat miles than the next route. The reason for this distinction is the fact that Sydney is Qatar Airways’ most distant Australian destination, what with it being located some 7,686 miles (12369.42 kilometers) from Doha Hamad Airport.

This route, much like the other Australian corridor served by 16,027 seats in each direction with Qatar Airways this December, has all of its flights operated by the double-decker Airbus
A380-800. Qatar Airways has configured its examples of the widebody quadjet with 517, and this figure is split between four classes of travel. As per the current configuration data from aeroLOPA, this figure consists of:

• Eight first class suites at the front of the upper deck.
• 48 business class flatbeds in the middle of the upper deck.
• 461 economy class seats split between 56 at the rear of the upper deck and 405 on the lower deck.

Photo: Seth Jaworski | Shutterstock

Qatar Airways’ outbound flights from Doha to Sydney are numbered as QR908, and have a scheduled duration of 14 hours and five minutes. Leaving Hamad Airport at 20:45, they touch down the next day at 18:50 local time. As for the return journey, which is numbered as flight QR909, these 15 hour and 10 minute flights leave Sydney at 21:40 and touch down in Doha at 04:50 local time the next day.

3

Doha – Perth

16,027 seats in each direction

Much like Qatar Airways’ daily flights from Doha to Melbourne, the carrier’s once-a-day services to Perth Airport (PER) also offer 16,027 seats in each direction on account of using the 517-seat Airbus A380-800. However, this route has somewhat fewer available seat miles (92,764,276 each way compared to 123,183,522 for Melbourne) on account of the route being shorter (5,788 miles or 9,314.9 km).

Photo: EQRoy | Shutterstock

For passengers traveling with Qatar Airways from Doha to Perth, a late night is in store, as the outbound flight (numbered as QR900) departs Hamad International Airport at 02:45. With a block time of 11 hours, its arrival into Perth is timed for 18:45 local time. Meanwhile, the return flight (QR901) leaves Western Australia at 22:45, and lands in Doha 11 hours and 35 minutes later at 05:20 the next day.

4

Doha – Brisbane

10,974 seats in each direction

Qatar Airways’ coverage of Australia also extends to the state of Queensland in the form of its capital, Brisbane. The Middle Eastern carrier flies daily between its Doha hub and the city’s Brisbane Airport (BNE), offering 31 flights in each direction this December. These services collectively provide 10,974 seats and 84,060,840 available seat miles each way, making it Qatar Airways’ fourth busiest Australian route.

Much like the aforementioned twice-daily flights from Doha to Melbourne, these services also make use of two-class 777-300ER aircraft that have the capacity to seat 354 passengers. According to Qatar Airways, these flights resumed back in May of 2020 and initially used the Airbus A350-1000. Previously, the carrier had received short-term approval to serve Brisbane on coronavirus repatriation missions.

Like many of Qatar Airways’ Australia-bound flights, QR898 lands the day after it takes off. Scheduled with a block time of 14 hours and five minutes, this service departs Hamad International Airport at 20:25 and touches down in Queensland at 17:30 the next day. Meanwhile, the return flight (QR899) has a duration of 14 hours and 50 minutes, leaving at 21:55 and landing at 05:45 the next day.

5

Doha – Adelaide

8,773 seats in each direction

Qatar Airways’ fifth route from Doha to Australia serves Adelaide Airport on a non-stop basis. The existence of these flights makes the aforementioned Melbourne-Adelaide leg of flight QR988 all the more of an issue on an environmental level, as they are presumably very lightly loaded due to Adelaide having its very own non-stop link to Doha, with 8,773 seats offered on 31 flights in each direction.

Photo: David Velupillai | Airbus

These figures combine on the 7,030-mile (11313.7 km) route to give a total available seat miles figure of 61,674,190 ASMs per month in each direction. This makes the corridor from Doha to Adelaide Qatar Airways’ least busy Australian route by this metric, as, despite its considerable length, the overall seat capacity itself is rather lower. This is due to the use of a different (and smaller) aircraft type.

Specifically, the Middle Eastern carrier’s plane of choice for these flights is the Airbus A350-900, which has just 283 seats onboard. This figure is split between 36 business class flatbeds in a four-abreast 1-2-1 configuration and 247 economy class seats in the standard nine-abreast 3-3-3 layout. However, the first row of economy class has a 2-3-2 setup, making it a prime choice for traveling couples.

Photo: Cangavi | Shutterstock

Qatar Airways’ flights from Doha to Adelaide are among its shorter Australian sectors, with the outbound leg (numbered as QR914) scheduled to take 12 hours and 50 minutes. The flight leaves Doha at 20:45, and touches down in Adelaide at 17:05 the following afternoon. As for the inbound leg (QR915), this 13 hour and 35 minute flight leaves at 22:00 and lands at 04:05 the next day.