Qatar Airways has confirmed that it is set to become the only airline in the Middle East to launch non-stop flights to Bogotá, Colombia, and to serve Caracas, Venezuela, with a new service from Doha that will launch early this summer.
The flight will be operated on a Boeing 777-200, which will fly non-stop from Qatar to Bogotá before continuing to Caracas. From there, the plane will fly non-stop back to Doha.
At present, the only other airline in the Persian Gulf to serve Bogotá is Emirates, which flies to Colombia via a stopover in Miami in both directions. Emirates has, however, only been serving the Colombian market since June 2024.
One of the main reasons that Emirates does not serve Bogotá non-stop is because El Dorado International Airport sits at an elevation of 8,360 feet, making it one of the highest-altitude airports in the world.
Such a high altitude presents significant challenges for large widebody aircraft, and that means that both Emirates and Qatar Airways have to either heavily restrict the payload or reduce the amount of fuel the plane is carrying in order to get their Boeing 777s off the ground.
Simply put, these planes wouldn’t be able to carry enough fuel to get all the way back to the Middle East without a stopover somewhere else in order to top up the fuel levels.
Emirates has decided to get around this problem by tapping into Miami’s local Colombian population, while Qatar Airways has added a stopover at Caracas’ Simón Bolívar International Airport, which sits at a far more modest elevation of just 235 feet, where enough fuel can be loaded for the flight back to Doha.
Given the continuing political and economic turmoil in Venezuela, it remains to be seen what kind of demand Qatar Airways is expecting, although, if nothing else, it serves the purpose of allowing the airline to get its plane back to Doha as quickly as possible.
Announcing the new route on Wednesday, Qatar Airways CEO Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer described the new service as a “transformative moment.”
“Passengers can look forward to experiencing Qatar Airways’ world-class in-flight hospitality as we continue to reach new heights in long-haul travel with our second-longest flight into the Americas,” Al-Meer commented.
“These routes embody our commitment to pioneering travel experiences and redefining global connectivity with our award-winning service.”
It’s pretty apparent that Qatar Airways is looking to compete with Emirates on services to Colombia, using the advantage of a non-stop flight to woo potential passengers connecting through the Middle East.
In the other direction, Qatar Airways will face competition from Turkish Airlines which already serves Caracas and has an extensive onward network from its Istanbul hub.
Exact timings of the new Qatar Airways service are yet to be confirmed, but flights are expected to go on sale soon.
