Qatar Airways

[Coathanger16]

Did you also notice that even at the excellent Doha Hamad Intrernational Airport, you are sometimes transported from the plane to the terminal on a bus, even from a brand new 787

Even at BHX, this would never happen unless the airbridge is broken we service the Qatar 787 with great respect.

I recently flew with Emirates to Dubai. Evening A380 departure. Landed in Dubai, parked on a remote stand and had to endure a 20 minute bus ride to the terminal. Not what I expected from one of the world's "best" airlines. At least the Qatar 787 only has 250 pax, unlike the over 600 on the Emirates A380.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

This is Qatar's new business class, which they have started rolling out on the 77W and intend to have on the whole fleet by some time next year.

There's always that problem passenger in 3A!!!!.

That looks so comfortable, once those two "look what I can do"'s disappear.

 

[Ray Finkle]

As of Monday Qatar will be code sharing with Vistara to 150+ destinations.

http://www.timesnownews.com/busines...tnership-pact-for-over-150-destinations/76141

 

[hishaq96]

It seems like Qatar Airways have changed the arrival time into BHX to 1.45pm

 

[BHXsupporter]

What is the change in departure and arrival times please at both ends?

 

[Ray Finkle]

The change to QR33/34 seems to be only for September, it goes back to normal as of October.

As it stands

Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat.

QR35 DOH 01:30 BHX 06:45
QR36 BHX 08:20 DOH 17:05

Tue, Thur, Sun.

QR33 DOH 08:15 BHX 13:45 until Oct then DOH 07:10 BHX 12:20
QR34 BHX 16:05 DOH 00:50 until Oct then BHX 16:20 DOH 01:00

Winter 17/18

Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat (the Sat flight departs BHX at 07:35 arriving Doha at 17:15).

QR35 DOH 01:15 BHX 05:40
QR36 BHX 07:10 DOH 16:50

Tue, Thur, Sun.

QR33 DOH 07:15 BHX 11:40
QR34 BHX 15:15 DOH 00:55

 

[rollo]

With the announcement of a daily 787 from CWL will it have an effect on the BHX service as I presume that there is some if limited traffic from South Wales and the Bristol area using Birmingham?

The announced schedule mirrors the split a.m./p.m. operation at BHX, can't imagine it having a great effect but not likely to improve our hopes in the short term of Qatar increasing frequency from here as has been suggested previously, also may take a little traffic from Emirates.

 

[Coathanger16]

With the announcement of a daily 787 from CWL will it have an effect on the BHX service as I presume that there is some if limited traffic from South Wales and the Bristol area using Birmingham?

The announced schedule mirrors the split a.m./p.m. operation at BHX, can't imagine it having a great effect but not likely to improve our hopes in the short term of Qatar increasing frequency from here as has been suggested previously, also may take a little traffic from Emirates.

Will there be an impact? I'm not entirely sure. I think any losses that are experienced at BHX will likely be offset by growth at BHX anyway.

I think the impact will be felt more at LHR (not that is will make much of a dent in LHR passenger figures) as passengers Cardiff's catchment would be more likely to use LHR than BHX. That's not to say there won't be an impact at BHX though. BHX is closer to both LHR and MAN than CWL, so if a service can work from BHX between those two, I doubt Cardiff will have much of an impact on BHX operations - that's not meant to be a dig at Cardiff, just an observation.

With Emirates soon to be flying double daily A380 into BHX, Qatar needs to do something to keep up. It has been suggested that Qatar may soon make the morning flight daily whilst still keeping the afternoon flights. This would equate to an increase from 7 flights per week to 10 - a 43% increase in capacity.

 

[Jerry]

With more A350 900s on the way then rather than increase frequency it could be possible they switch BHX to the A350 and increase seats that way. Personally I don't think CWLs service will effect BHX as most people travel long haul from London in this area.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

BHX is a good alternative for travellers to/from the Bristol area, especially those in the northern part of the city region from where BHX can be reached in little more than an hour by road.

My wife and I have been flying to Melbourne every year since 2010 and we always try to use BHX - we live on the southern edge of Bristol so BHX is further way for us than for those in the north of the city; nevertheless it's still slightly closer than LHR, and BHX is a nicer airport to use. Our travel agent, a well-known long haul specialist, always finds us 'deals' with Emirates - we are reasonably flexible with dates as we are VFR - but only on one trip did this feature BHX. The other times have always been via Gatwick.

Our next trip will be later in 2018 so we shall be looking at all the options in due course: BHX, CWL and the London airports.

 

[58terminus]

Our travel agent, a well-known long haul specialist, always finds us 'deals' with Emirates - we are reasonably flexible with dates as we are VFR - but only on one trip did this feature BHX.

From what i keep reading on the forum that is a step up on the Birmingham area travel agents who don't seem
to know there is an airport in Birmingham.

 

[Coathanger16]

Does anyone know how Qatar are getting on at BHX? Just been looking through the passenger stats (often misleading I know) and they've been down every month on last year...

Is it just that Qatar had a very good first year?

Also looked at Edinburgh (Qatar also operate a daily 787 there) and their loads are up.

April 2017 - August 2017 vs April 2016 - August 2016: EDI up 5.9%, BHX down 15.7% (April 2016 was first full month of Qatar operations at BHX).

I guess as long as the yields are good its not too much of an issue. Perhaps with Qatar now operating the only morning departure to the Middle East, loads might improve. Also cargo to consider...

 

[Ray Finkle]

Up until August last year Qatar were 8 weekly whereas this year they have only been daily, so one weekly flight down.

Qatar also have issues with other Middle Eastern countries at the moment such as Saudi and the UAE, this has resulted in some connections suspended which may have made a difference. Manchester has seen a similar recent decline to Birmingham which may suggest that both cities see more passengers connecting onto Middle Eastern routes than EDI does.

 

[Brum X]

Qatar Airways chief says Birmingham has contributed to the airline's success.

http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/special-features/qatar-airways-chief-says-birmingham-13971939

 

[BHXsupporter]

Hmmm. Looks like an unabashed generic plug for Qatar where the airport's name is changed as required!

 

[smithy108]

Qatar Summer 2018 schedule update changes published (routesonline.com) - no changes reported to Birmingham schedule ( other UK airports included in announcement, mostly confirmation, is the daily 787-8 from Cardiff and Edinburgh gets A350-900XWB replacing 787-8)

 

[Seasider]

Hopefully we will see the A350 flying up/down the East Coast.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

There is a post in the CWL Qatar thread that social media is suggesting that BHX will be cut to 5 x weekly for a period in May/June because of aircraft shortages as is the case with CWL. The Qatar booking engine still shows BHX-DOH as daily. Is anyone aware of this?

 

[Ray Finkle]

There is a post in the CWL Qatar thread that social media is suggesting that BHX will be cut to 5 x weekly for a period in May/June because of aircraft shortages as is the case with CWL. The Qatar booking engine still shows BHX-DOH as daily. Is anyone aware of this?

I've not heard of any cuts, if anything loads have been improving of late but May/June is generally considered the low period.

As said the Qatar website is showing daily as is Amadeus so if reductions are happening they are yet to make it to the booking systems?

 

[Brum X]

There is a post in the CWL Qatar thread that social media is suggesting that BHX will be cut to 5 x weekly for a period in May/June because of aircraft shortages as is the case with CWL. The Qatar booking engine still shows BHX-DOH as daily. Is anyone aware of this?

I woudnt be surprised, there LF out of BHX is hardly out of this world.