Qatar Airway is set to reduce its capacity temporarily to accommodate additional carriers at its Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH) hub during the World Cup.

The oneworld alliance carrier will cut service to 18 destinations over the course of the World Cup. The State of Qatar expects to receive around 1.2 million visitors for the sporting event, which will take place from November 20th to December 18th of this year. The event hosts athletes from a total of 32 nations, with matches spread across eight stadiums around central Doha.

Chief Executive of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, confirmed the cuts at a news conference this week and emphasized the priority now was to accommodate the hundreds of flights additional flights arriving in Doha for the tournament:

"We have reduced and withdrawn from 18 destinations in order to make space at Hamad international airport to bring fans."

"Our priority is not Qatar Airways' network but giving access to all countries participating and bringing in large numbers of passengers."

The slots will go to the international carriers, including fellow oneworld carrier British Airways, which recently timetabled its Airbus A380 to operate daily flights between November 18th and January 8th to Doha using Qatar Airways' slots at London's Heathrow Airport. The flights will revert to British Airways on January 9th.

Get all the latest aviation news right here on Simple Flying

New destinations and shuttle flights

The cuts affect flights to Asia most severely. Simple Flying previously reported the drop of flights to locations such as Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India for the event.

The newly-available landing slots in Doha will accommodate a more extensive selection of international scheduled commercial services and charter flights. In addition to the previously announced British Airways flights, Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker suggested that German airline Lufthansa is considering restarting operations along with Skyteam alliance carriers Air France and KLM.

Football fans will stay in the neighboring Gulf nations and fly over daily for the matches. For the event, the airline partnered with neighboring carriers, including Kuwait Airways, Saudia, and Oman Air, for same-day return day flights. The shuttle flights will enable spectators to attend for a day and save on hotel costs. Qatar Airways COO Badr Mohammad Al Meer confirmed hundreds of additional flights are scheduled to land daily during the tournament:

"For shuttle flights there will be 500 a day, for charter flights the list has not yet been finalised."

The addition of flights to Oman is notable as Oman Air looks to join the oneworld alliance and potentially filter more traffic through fellow carrier Qatar Airways's hub in Doha.

Extra capacity at Doha International Airport

Several airlines are also flying into the old Doha International Airport to expand the capacity for shuttle flights. The airport served as Doha's main airport before operations transferred to the existing Doha Hamad International Airport in 2014.

The airport, which typically serves charter flights and Air Force operations, will not receive services from Qatar Airways. The focus will instead be on attracting international airlines and facilitating shuttle flights. Carriers, including flydubai, Air Arabia, Nepal Airlines, and World2Fly, have all announced flights to the reopened facility.

Source: Reuters

• 

  Qatar Airways

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  QR/QTR

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Doha Hamad International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1993

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Akbar Al Baker

  Country:

  Qatar