Qatar Airways

currently flies the Airbus A380

from its Doha

hub to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, London Heathrow, Paris CDG, Perth, and Sydney.

It was already known that Perth would cease seeing Qatar Airways’ superjumbos from June 24 to October 26 (Doha departure). This reflected Virgin Australia beginning Perth-Doha flights in June using Boeing 777-300ERs wet-leased from the Middle Eastern operator.

But there has been another development. According to Qatar Airways’ latest schedule update, the A380 will not return after all. Of course, this may change again, but that is the current situation.

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Qatar Airways cuts A380 flights to Perth

In December 2024, the oneworld member mentioned its then-temporary suspension of double-decker services to Western Australia. However, it will no longer see them after June 24. It is currently unknown where the A380 will be flown instead. More on this later.

Photo: Arseniy Shemyakin Photo | Shutterstock

Qatar Airways first flew to Perth in 2012. Cirium Diio data shows the Boeing 777-200LR was initially deployed, although the 777-300ER was the most-flown equipment. The first-class-equipped, 517-seat A380 first appeared in May 2018. It operated until early 2020, with the Airbus A350-900/A350-1000/777-300ER flown amid the worst of the pandemic.

The A380 returned in December 2022 and has operated exclusively since. However, flights will switch to the non-first-class 354-seat 777-300ER on June 25. This means the airline’s own seats for sale will fall by 31%, with first class unavailable. Of course, Virgin’s entry, with the 339-seat 777-30ER, will help to reduce the shortfall.

In November, when the A380 was due to return, Qatar Airways and Virgin now plan 1,386 daily roundtrip seats, down by almost a fifth. This will help increase loads and yields, especially heading into the all-important summer Down Under.

That’s good, as it will be more costly to provide than one daily A380, but it is quite a reduction for the peak season, which will benefit other operators. The appeal of two daily services rather than one balances this.

What’s the schedule?

Qatar Airways serves Western Australia daily, the same frequency as Virgin when its first flight departs from Doha for Perth on June 26. When combined, their July schedule will be as follows, with all times local:

• Doha to Perth: QR900, 02:35-18:40 (11h 5m); VA22, 19:50-1155+1 (11h 5m)
• Perth to Doha: QR901, 22:45-05:10+1 (11h 25m); VA21, 15:20-21:50 (11h 30m)

Image: GCMap

Qatar Airways’ A380 network

Given Perth’s development, it is worth examining where Qatar Airways’ A380s will fly in July (the first whole month after the June cut) and November (the first whole month after the type won’t now return to Western Australia).

Nothing has changed (yet?). However, this somewhat misses the point. Despite Perth being cut, Qatar Airways plans 35 weekly A380 take-offs from Doha in November (double for both ways), up from 28 in November 2024. This is because Paris CDG now sees the type and because London Heathrow is now double daily.

So, despite Perth being removed, flights are still up year-on-year. Nonetheless, until this weekend’s schedule update, the carrier had scheduled 42 take-offs. What will replace it? It’d be easy to conclude it is gradually retiring the A380. After all, in mid-2023, it mentioned doing this from 2025, although it seemed to change its mind a year later. Time will tell.

Perth will still see the A380…

Emirates will continue to fly the superjumbo to Perth. It is on one of its two daily departures from Dubai, with the 777-300ER (what else?) on the other.

Given Emirates and Qatar Airways’ similar schedules to maximize connectivity to/from Europe, EK420 leaves the UAE at 02:45 and arrives in Perth at 17:20 local time. Returning, EK421 departs at 22:20 and gets back to Dubai at 05:25+1, ready to feed that carrier’s largest Europe-bound bank of flights.