Qatar Airways has pushed back the relaunch of Doha to Canberra to the beginning of December. Fully bookable, it will restart two months later than previously expected. Its return comes partway through the World Cup, for which Qatar Airways has cut 7% of its flights.

From Doha to Canberra

Qatar Airways will take off from Doha Hamad to Canberra on December 1st (December 2nd on the way back). With a 1x daily service, it'll route via Melbourne in both directions, replacing Sydney. It means Doha-Melbourne doubles to 2x daily.

Under the bilateral agreement between Qatar and Australia, Melbourne was limited to 1x daily unless it continued to a smaller city. It's therefore much more about greater access to Melbourne than serving Canberra. It'll see 354-seat B777-300ERs, Qatar Airways' lowest-density version of the type. They have 42 fully flat business beds and 312 seats in economy.

The schedule is as follows, with all times local. Notice the ungodly arrival time in Australia's capital of 02:20 local time. Because of cabotage, it does not have traffic rights to carry passengers between Melbourne and Canberra.

  • Doha to Melbourne: QR988, 01:30-23:05
  • Melbourne to Canberra: QR988, 01:05-02:20
  • Canberra to Melbourne: QR989, 13:00-14:15
  • Melbourne to Doha: QR989, 1615-22:40
Qatar Airways to Canberra
The routing covers 7,718 miles (12,420km) each way. Image: GCMap.

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Qatar Airways to Canberra: a summary

Qatar Airways launched Canberra nearly five years ago in February 2018, when it routed Doha-Sydney-Canberra-Sydney-Doha. As with flying via Melbourne now, serving Canberra was a way to grow Sydney to 2x daily. Since it no longer routes via Sydney, Doha-Sydney remains at 1x daily.

Depending on the month, it arrived in Canberra sometime between 08:55 and 11:20 – much more civilized. It used B777-300ERs until October 2019, after which A350-1000s were deployed until the route was postponed in March 2020.

According to booking data, around 63,000 people transited from Canberra over Doha in 2019. Not surprisingly, the UK was the biggest country market, followed by Switzerland, Spain, Germany, and Austria. At airport level, Canberra-Barcelona was top.

Qatar_Airways_(A7-ANE)_Airbus_A350-1041_taxiing_at_Canberra_Airport_(1)
A350-1000s were used to Canberra for five months. Photo: Bidgee via Wikimedia.

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Canberra's only international service

When it's back, not only will Qatar Airways be the only long-haul airline serving Canberra, but it'll also be the only carrier with any international service to the city. Canberra last had international operations in – you guessed it – March 2020 by both Qatar's flag carrier and Singapore Airlines.

Singapore_Airlines_(9V-SRQ)_Boeing_777-212(ER)_at_Canberra_Airport
Singapore Airlines' served Canberra until March 2020. It initially continued to Wellington, New Zealand's capital, before operating triangularly with Sydney. Photo: Bidgee via Wikimedia.

Doha to Down Under

Qatar Airways' own metal serves seven destinations in Australia and New Zealand, summarized as follows. Its strategic relationship with Virgin Australia will help drive passengers, revenue, and market share. Note that stated frequencies are until next August, with any change stated for the Southern Hemisphere's winter season.

  1. Doha to Adelaide: 5x weekly (3x weekly in winter); B777-300ER (continuing to/from Auckland)
  2. Doha to Auckland: 5x weekly (3x weekly in winter); B777-300ER (via Adelaide in both directions)
  3. Doha to Brisbane: 1x daily; B777-300ER/A350-1000
  4. Doha to Canberra: 1x daily; B777-300ER (via Melbourne in both directions)
  5. Doha to Melbourne: 2x daily; B777-300ER (one terminator, one continuing to/from Canberra)
  6. Doha to Perth: 1x daily; B777-300ER, but A380 from December (B777-300ER returns at the end of March)
  7. Doha to Sydney: 1x daily; A380

What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comments.