Qatar Airways plans to operate Airbus A380 aircraft on the Doha (DOH)-Perth (PER) route, saying the extra capacity demonstrates the oneworld member’s growing focus on the Australian market.
Qatar Airways is already serving the DOH-PER route daily with a Boeing 777-300ER. The carrier said it will switch to the A380 from Dec. 6, adding 163 daily seats on the route.
The return of Qatar Airways’ A380s to the Perth market will come just days after Emirates Airline resumes daily A380 service between Dubai (DXB) and PER from Dec. 1.
Qatar Airways said adding capacity to the route connecting the capital of the state of Western Australia with Doha will help grow the airline’s codeshare partnership with Virgin Australia that commenced this month.
In addition to PER, Qatar Airways currently operates daily flights from DOH to the Australian cities of Brisbane (BNE), Melbourne (MEL) and Sydney (SYD). It also operates 3X-weekly flights from DOH to Adelaide (ADL) in Australia that continue on to Auckland (AKL) in New Zealand.
Qatar Airways’ A380s are configured with 517 seats, including eight in first class and 48 in business class.
Qatar Airways said the accord with Virgin Australia “opens seamless travel to over 150 destinations” across the two airlines’ networks, adding: “Doha has become a major hub for Australian passengers [connecting] to the Middle East and Europe.”
“We want to demonstrate our commitment to Australia by continuing the work we did during the pandemic to keep Australians connected,” Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said in a statement.
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