While the Airbus A380 never quite lived up to the billing in terms of worldwide sales, the double-decker quadjet has been a useful aircraft for the handful of operators that have been able to make the ‘superjumbo’ work. One such carrier is Qatar Airways, which uses the widebody to operate high-capacity flights in and out of its main hub at Hamad International Airport (DOH) in the Qatari capital of Doha.

The Airbus A380 promises Qatar Airways

‘ passengers a luxurious experience, with these aircraft being some of the only ones at the carrier to feature a first class cabin. With the extra space onboard also used for opulent features such as an onboard lounge area, those flying onboard the superjumbo with the Middle Eastern airline are certainly in for a treat. But which routes does Qatar Airways serve with it?

Two flights a day to London

As seen in the video embedded below, London Heathrow Airport (LHR) has long been considered to be something of a hotspot when it comes to the operations of the Airbus A380. Indeed, scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that, in March 2025, some six airlines are flying the superjumbo to and from the West London hub. One of these is Qatar Airways.

Cirium’s data for the whole of 2025 shows that, this calendar year, Qatar Airways has scheduled 3,819 flights with the Airbus A380, and these services will collectively offer grand totals of 1,974,423 seats and 8,535,844,746 available seat miles (ASMs). London Heathrow Airport alone accounts for more than 38% of these flights, with 730 services in each direction on the high-demand route from Doha.

It is worth noting that the Airbus A380 is actually one of several aircraft types used by Qatar Airways between Doha and London Heathrow Airport. Indeed, even just in March, the oneworld

member is also deploying the Airbus A350-900, A350-1000, Boeing 777-200LR, and 777-300ER on the route. Its only direct competition comes from UK flag carrier British Airways, which also favors the ‘triple-seven’ here.

Photo: John Argent Productions | Shutterstock

As such, passengers specifically wanting to fly on the Airbus A380 when traveling between Doha Hamad International Airport

and London Heathrow should be aware of which services are scheduled to be operated by the superjumbo. Qatar Airways uses the double-decker quadjet twice a day in each direction on this corridor, so fans of the Airbus A380 should look out for the following flights:

• QR11 (DOH 01:50 – LHR 06:25) and QR10 (LHR 08:35 – DOH 18:15).
• QR3 (DOH 07:40 – LHR 12:15) and QR4 (LHR 14:15 – DOH 23:55).

Two routes are served daily or more

Elsewhere in Qatar Airways’ small but mighty network of Airbus

A380 operations, there are two more routes that, across the calendar year as a whole, the carrier is set to serve daily or more on average with the superjumbo. The more numerous of these connects its main hub at Doha Hamad International Airport with Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) in Thailand, a route on which Qatar Airways has a monopoly.

Photo: Minh K Tran | Shutterstock

Once again, the A380 is one of several aircraft types deployed by the carrier on this corridor, which also sees service from the Airbus A350, Boeing

777, and Boeing 787 ‘Dreamliner’ families. As for the A380, Qatar Airways has scheduled 417 outbound and 416 inbound flights with the type this year. These operate daily all year round, with a handful of twice-daily rotations from July to October to make up the total.

Meanwhile, flying even further to the southeast, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD) in Australia also sees Qatar Airways’ Airbus A380s on a daily basis, with 365 flights scheduled in each direction on this corridor in 2025. This route differs from those discussed thus far as, this March, Qatar Airways’ 31 A380 flights in each direction will be its only presence, with no other aircraft types scheduled.

Photo: Seth Jaworski | Shutterstock

Flying from Doha to Sydney on Qatar Airways’ Airbus A380s is an overnight affair, with flight QR908 leaving Doha at 20:45. After 14 hours and five minutes of block time, it is scheduled to arrive in Sydney at 18:50 local time for the next day. As for the return leg, flight QR909 has an even longer block time of 15 hours and 10 minutes. It leaves Sydney at 21:40 and touches down in Qatar at 04:50 the next day.

Lower frequencies

All in all, Qatar Airways has scheduled flights to just five destinations with its Airbus A380s this year, demonstrating to a tee the fact that the aircraft is the perfect plane, but only for a rather select handful of markets. Its remaining two routes are served less than daily on average by the superjumbo, with the more numerous of the two destinations being Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) in France.

Photo: GB-Photographie | Shutterstock

This year, Qatar Airways has scheduled 223 flights in each direction with the Airbus A380 between Doha and Paris, with varying frequency levels. Indeed, the superjumbo will serve the corridor on a daily basis in July, August, November, and December, and September falls just one rotation short of daily operations, with 29 trips planned. October is the quietest month, with 11 A380 rotations penciled in.

Finally, Qatar Airways also flies the Airbus A380 from its main hub at Doha Hamad International Airport to Perth (PER) in Western Australia. Interestingly, this corridor has higher frequencies than the Paris route, but falls short numerically when looking at the year as a whole due to the fact that the Middle Eastern airline is only deploying its largest aircraft to Perth between January and June of this year.

All in all, Qatar Airways has planned to operate 175 A380 flights in each direction between Doha and Perth in 2025. From January to May, the superjumbo will serve this corridor daily, before the frequency drops to 24 round trips in June. As Simple Flying reported recently, the reason for the A380’s withdrawal on the Perth route in June is the fact that Virgin Australia is set to begin serving the corridor with Boeing 777-300ERs leased from the Middle Eastern oneworld member thereafter.

What’s it like onboard?

According to present fleet data made available by aeroLOPA, Qatar Airways configures its Airbus A380 quadjets in a three-class layout that has space for a grand total of 517 paying guests onboard. This figure comprises 461 economy class seats, 48 business class flatbeds, and eight luxurious first class suites. Interestingly, the former of these cabins is split between the aircraft’s two passenger decks.

Indeed, the lower deck on Qatar Airways’ Airbus A380s is occupied entirely by economy class seating, with 405 of the 461 Recaro CL3710 seats located here. These are laid out 10-abreast in a 3-4-3 configuration, with 31 inches of pitch, 18 inches of width and seven inches of recline. Meanwhile, there are also 56 economy seats at the rear of the upper deck, laid out eight-abreast in a 2-4-2 configuration.

As for first class, these eight suites are located at the front of the upper deck, laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration. The seats are 23 inches wide, and convert to flatbeds that measure 78 inches in length should passengers wish to sleep. Entertainment comes in the form of a 26-inch high-definition touchscreen display, dwarfing the 10-6-inch offering in economy class. These suites also have a small ottoman.

Between the first class and economy sections of the upper deck on the Airbus A380, Qatar Airways has a business class cabin that consists of 48 Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seats. These flatbeds are also laid out four abreast in a 1-2-1 configuration, and are 80 inches long when converted for sleep. The A and K outer seats face the windows, while the E and F inner seats face inwards. The rear of this cabin features a stylish onboard lounge that business and first class guests can use.

Qatar Airways’ Airbus A380 fleet in a nutshell

According to fleet data from ch-aviation, Qatar Airways currently has 10 examples of the Airbus A380 at its disposal, with these quadjets clocking in at an average age of 9.6 years old. This puts them just below the fleet-wide mean figure, which presently sits at 10.4 years old on average. Of the Middle Eastern carrier’s 10 superjumbos, seven are listed as active, with two stored and one in maintenance.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Qatar Airways received four of its 10 A380s in the second half of 2014, with A7-APA, -APB, -APC, and -APD joining the airline between September and December of that year. They were followed by A7-APE and -APF in June and October of 2015, A7-APG in December 2016, A7-APH and -API in May and December of 2017, and A7-APJ in April 2018. Since then, their future has been somewhat uncertain.

Indeed, after grounding the fleet after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, there were fears that the type may never return to the airline’s operations. Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker later went on to say that the Airbus A380 was the carrier’s biggest mistake, although the airline ultimately put the superjumbo back into service just over three years ago, in December of 2021.