Qatar Airways has revealed two further destinations in Africa, an increasingly important continent for the oneworld carrier. Doha to Kinshasa and Juba are set to begin, neither of which has been operated before.

Importantly, while flydubai previously served Kinshasa – one of Africa's biggest cities with 17 million people in the metro – from Dubai in 2018/2019, neither it nor Emirates do now. However, Emirates is bound to when its A350-900s and 787-9s begin to arrive, with Qatar Airways to temporarily benefit from this absence.

Qatar Airways to Kinshasa and Juba

While no further details (frequencies, start dates, schedules, aircraft, etc.) are known when writing, both routes were expected. In mid-2021, Hendrik Du Preez, Qatar Airways' Vice-President for Africa, disclosed the likelihood of them and the wider potential of Africa for the carrier.

Du Preez emphasized the potential opportunities of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somaliland (or just Somalia, if you prefer), South Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Qatar Airways now serves Zambia (Lusaka) and Zimbabwe (Harare), with the DRC (Kinshasa) and South Sudan (Juba) coming. When will Hargeisa, Somalia materialize?

600,000 passengers

Booking data suggests that ~140,000 roundtrip passengers traveled between Kinshasa, Asia, and the Middle East in 2019. Most flew with Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, and Turkish Airlines. To/from Juba, it was ~70,000, particularly with flydubai, Ethiopian, and EgyptAir. From both cities, the UAE, China, India, and Lebanon will be especially important targets for Qatar Airways.

Click here for Juba-Beijing flights.

Helped by schedule, pricing, transit times, product quality, and more, it will also capture a share of the passengers bound to/from Europe and North America. Kinshasa had ~350,000 such passengers, and Juba ~40,000. Inevitably, some backtracking would be involved, especially from Kinshasa.

Click here for Kinshasa-Guangzhou flights.

Qatar Airways to Africa

As of March 8th, Qatar Airways plans passenger flights to 32 African airports this year, including Casablanca and Marrakech, which are resuming. Nearly a fifth of its entire network (19%) is in Africa.

In contrast, Emirates serves 21 (16%), rising to 26 if increasingly important partner flydubai is included. Qatar Airways' Africa network is far smaller in breadth than Turkish Airlines' (51). Turkish Airlines is bigger in North Africa, West/Central Africa, and East Africa, helped by its strong use of narrowbodies in these regions. However, Qatar Airways serves more places in Southern Africa.

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A mixed fleet is crucial

Qatar Airways' mixed fleet is crucial to its African development. Cirium says approximately 37% of Africa flights are by the 787-8; Kinshasa will probably use this variant. Then the 777-300ER (16%), A320 (12%; will probably be used to Juba); A330-300 (10%), 777-200LR (7%), A330-200 (6%), A350-900 (5%), 787-9 (5%), and A350-1000 (3%).

Such a mixed fleet offers flexibility and the opportunity to right-size aircraft capacity to demand as passenger traffic picks up; after all, it can take a good while for a long-haul route to develop. It also enables the airline to start a new route – perhaps a secondary destination, similar to Juba – with a smaller aircraft and to build up over time. It is a less risky approach.

Freight is an important consideration for widebodies. In some markets, freight may be so important that it enables a big contribution to Qatar Airways' sector costs while passenger traffic develops.

Where would you like Qatar Airways to fly next? Let us know in the comments.

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  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