Qatar Airways

[Jerry]

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Excellent record of Qatar's first year at CWL.

 

[Jerry]

Excellent record of Qatar's first year at CWL.

Thanks! It's great to be able to photo and video an airline like them at Cardiff!

 

[Jerry]

It's been posted elsewhere that today's CWL-DOH is full with no spare seats.

 

[KARFA]

It's been posted elsewhere that today's CWL-DOH is full with no spare seats.

I wonder whether there was a specific reason for this? Looking at selling class availability over the next few days it not anywhere close to being full:

Friday - QR 322 - J9 C9 D9 I9 R9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 T9 O9 W9
Saturday - QR 322 - J9 C9 D9 I9 R9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 T9 O9 W0
Monday - QR322 - J9 C9 D9 I9 R9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 T0 O0 W0

 

[Jerry]

I wonder whether there was a specific reason for this? Looking at selling class availability over the next few days it not anywhere close to being full:

I'd imagine it's down to Xmas. A lot of people heading away for a holiday or to go see family.
The numbers you quoted. What do they mean?

 

[KARFA]

I'd imagine it's down to Xmas. A lot of people heading away for a holiday or to go see family.
The numbers you quoted. What do they mean?

They are selling classes, J-R are for business, Y-W for economy. They represent how many tickets the airline is willing to sell in each class (usually maxed at 9), typically I/R are cheapest for business and O is cheapest for economy so they go first and you certainly wouldn't expect to see the cheapest selling classes open at all this close to a flight. With a few days to go usually just the more expensive selling classes are the only ones open.

Here is an example of a QR LHR-DOH (QR8) flight for tomorrow

J2 C0 D0 I0 R0 Y1 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 T0 O0 W0

pretty much full in both cabins and possibly even oversold. QR are willing to sell one last seat in economy in the most expensive selling class Y, and 2 in business in the most expensive selling class J. Every other selling class is zeroed out.

 

[Jerry]

They are selling classes, J-R are for business, Y-W for economy. They represent how many tickets the airline is willing to sell in each class (usually maxed at 9), typically I/R are cheapest for business and O is cheapest for economy so they go first and you certainly wouldn't expect to see the cheapest selling classes open at all this close to a flight. With a few days to go usually just the more expensive selling classes are the only ones open.

Here is an example of a QR LHR-DOH (QR8) flight for tomorrow



pretty much full in both cabins and possibly even oversold. QR are willing to sell one last seat in economy in the most expensive selling class Y, and 2 in business in the most expensive selling class J. Every other selling class is zeroed out.

Ok thanks!

 

[louis_walton]

Don't know if it has already been reported but Qatar will go daily as off the 26th of May with the same 787-8 aircraft. Sourced from Routesonline on the 21st of December.
https://www.routesonline.com/news/3...ar-airways-s19-service-changes-as-of-21dec18/

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Don't know if it has already been reported but Qatar will go daily as off the 26th of May with the same 787-8 aircraft. Sourced from Routesonline on the 21st of December.
https://www.routesonline.com/news/3...ar-airways-s19-service-changes-as-of-21dec18/

It operated daily in summer 2018 from 18 June and dropped to 5 x weekly for the current winter.

 

[superking]

Stats for Qatar in November for CWL
pax loadings were 119 per flight which works out at 47%.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Not great, but as we know November is always poorly performing for most Airports.
I've been looking at the overall results for QR through the UK according to the CAA stats;
Overall in Nov 2017 in total 120,651 passengers were carried from UK Airports to DOH - LHR, BHX, MAN & EDI.
In Nov 2018 a total of 121,820 passengers were carried from UK Airports, from the above 4 and now including CWL.
That's stated as a 1% increase on 2017.
LHR saw a drop of approx. 11,400 passengers (-14%)
BHX saw an increase of approx. 700 (+8%),
EDI approx. 2000 (+22%)
MAN approx. 2700 (+21%)

Add on to that a comparison of DXB and AUH. All DXB routes saw a decline in passengers. Overall the comparison of total via DXB & AUH is 2017 - 868,489 vs 2018 - 774325. Although LGW isn't included for some reason. Last years figure was just under 75,000 to DXB. Add that onto 2018 and it's still only approx. 850,000, so still a decline.

DXB doesn't seem to be performing as well, but it's difficult to comment on with EK/QF/BA/VS(?) on the route. I'm not sure if VS have yet dropped DXB or is due to.
Similarly i'm not sure if QR has started LGW yet. If so, then those figures will obviously be a welcome boost to QR's UK figures. With BHX seeing growth in Nov, but LHR seeing a large drop. It would be interesting to know how CWL has affected both Airports or if it's created a new market in itself. As we know, KL are still performing well on CWL-AMS, but what we don't know is if it's affected KL's long haul, East flights. It could be the case but overall usage of KL's European and West connections have improved.
I can't imagine that the large drop of passengers at LHR for QR is down to CWL opening, so I would say even with 47% LF, CWL's figures are a welcome boost to QR.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Not great, but as we know November is always poorly performing for most Airports.
I've been looking at the overall results for QR through the UK according to the CAA stats;
Overall in Nov 2017 in total 120,651 passengers were carried from UK Airports to DOH - LHR, BHX, MAN & EDI.
In Nov 2018 a total of 121,820 passengers were carried from UK Airports, from the above 4 and now including CWL.
That's stated as a 1% increase on 2017.
LHR saw a drop of approx. 11,400 passengers (-14%)
BHX saw an increase of approx. 700 (+8%),
EDI approx. 2000 (+22%)
MAN approx. 2700 (+21%)

Add on to that a comparison of DXB and AUH. All DXB routes saw a decline in passengers. Overall the comparison of total via DXB & AUH is 2017 - 868,489 vs 2018 - 774325. Although LGW isn't included for some reason. Last years figure was just under 75,000 to DXB. Add that onto 2018 and it's still only approx. 850,000, so still a decline.

DXB doesn't seem to be performing as well, but it's difficult to comment on with EK/QF/BA/VS(?) on the route. I'm not sure if VS have yet dropped DXB or is due to.
Similarly i'm not sure if QR has started LGW yet. If so, then those figures will obviously be a welcome boost to QR's UK figures. With BHX seeing growth in Nov, but LHR seeing a large drop. It would be interesting to know how CWL has affected both Airports or if it's created a new market in itself. As we know, KL are still performing well on CWL-AMS, but what we don't know is if it's affected KL's long haul, East flights. It could be the case but overall usage of KL's European and West connections have improved.
I can't imagine that the large drop of passengers at LHR for QR is down to CWL opening, so I would say even with 47% LF, CWL's figures are a welcome boost to QR.

Qatar Airways has certainly suffered from the trade and diplomatic boycott by some of its neighbouring countries towards Qatar and the airline lost 69 million USD in the year to March 2018. The was reflected in a drop of four million annual passengers at Doha International Airport to 34 million.

Qatar is a very wealthy country with estimated assets worth 320 billion USD in its sovereign wealth fund so the the Qatari Government that owns Qatar Airways won't be unduly bothered about these airline financial setbacks. The country's natural gas reserves are thought to be huge.

I sometimes get the impression that whilst the government doesn't want its airline to suffer losses it's a very important way for the country to be 'seen' around the world and if it takes a 'loss leader' airline to accomplish that then so be it.

In my view the CWL-DOH route would have to perform dreadfully for it to be pulled given the airline CEO's public support for it in the face of doubts from some of his senior staff. The CEO is a powerful and prominent figure in Qatar and where 'Face' is an extremely important facet of the culture he would have been unlikely to have gone out on this public limb had he not been confident that the route would survive, almost whatever.

Etihad seems in worse shape posting a 1.52 billion USD loss in 2017/2018 although that was not as big a loss as the previous year.

Emirates saw a 762 million USD profit in the same period and their passenger numbers were over 58 million in 2017/2018, more than double the number carried just eight years before. DXB handled over 88 million passengers in 2017 which is nearly double the number handled eight years before.

 

[kraktoa]

Watching the FA cup match between Newport and Leicester. Strange that Emirates are advertising flights to Aus and Africa but Qatar Airways has no adverts at all.

 

[Tinkerman]

Emirates sponsor the FA Cup, Qatar do not.

 

[aviatorconcorde]

Interesting comments from another forum. The post is from december.

“ Just to add, I had family fly round trip recently CWL-DOH on 15th and 21st December and both flights were full.

I flew CWL-DOH on 18th and again was pretty much full. J was full expect for the 4 seats in row 1 which were empty. I would say Economy was at least 95% full.

I have more family taking this route in mid January to visit us so will be interesting to see how it looks after the holidays.

Looks to be doing well though. “

 

[StanMan]

A couple of my work colleagues are using the QR service out and back over the next 14 days and commented that seat availability in Y was very limited both outbound and inbound. Promising signs.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

That is good considering January is usually a quiet month. Hopefully December saw a good increase in Christmas travellers and if consistent with what some are saying about current figures then hopefully we're starting to see results.

 

[Jerry]

I have seen a lot of posts online about people going to visit family in Australia and New Zealand and no doubt many headed off for winter sun to places like Thailand.

 

[Jerry]

News

15 January

Tourism Students jet off to Malaysia from Cardiff



A group of 20 students and tutors from University of Wales Trinity St David have today embarked on a ten day field trip to Malaysia, benefiting from Qatar Airways’ regular flights to the Middle East.
The group, which includes Masters, MBA and final year undergraduate students undertaking business and international travel and tourism qualifications, took off from Wales’ national airport this morning, bound for Doha, and will connect onwards to Kuala Lumpur to embark on their exciting itinerary.
The Qatar Airways service from Cardiff offers customers across Wales and the South West a gateway to the world, with access to 160 onward connections via its airport hub at Hamad International Airport in Doha.
On arrival in Kuala Lumpur, the students will visit University of Wales Trinity St David’s sister university – the International University of Malaya Wales and a wealth of cultural and tourist landmarks across Malaysia, before heading to Singapore to experience the airport customer journey, explore the city and the Harry Potter attraction.
Deb Barber, CEO of Cardiff Airport, added: “It’s my pleasure to welcome the group this morning. The Qatar Airways service has created so many new opportunities for our customers to access destinations worldwide, and also reaffirms Cardiff Airport’s position as a key gateway to the UK for international visitors.
“Regular flights to and from the Middle East are also ideal for our growing international student population, and today’s field trip is an excellent example of the ways in which it also enriches the learning experience for students attending university in our region. I wish the group every success and an enjoyable and memorable field trip.”
Jacqui Jones, Programme Director for International Travel, Tourism & Leisure Management at University of Wales Trinity St David, said: “We are thrilled to be supporting Cardiff Airport. The development of International links with Qatar Airways will make our journey to Malaysia and Singapore so much easier and is an exciting development for Tourism in Wales.
“The trip is an excellent opportunity for the students to experience first-hand the importance of travel & tourism in Malaysia as well as giving us the opportunity to fly home from Singapore. The students are all excited to fly on the new route from Cardiff.”
https://www.cardiff-airport.com/news/2019/01/15/tourism-students-jet-off-to-malaysia-from-cardiff/