Summary Qatar Airways has 11 routes with fewer than 60 departures between August and December. All are on the Airbus A320 and A330. They include Doha to Toulouse, a route that ends in September after just over one year.
What comes to mind when you think of Qatar Airways ? Perhaps the QSuite, state funding, or a sea of widebodies. What probably does not immediately spring forth is the carrier's least-served routes. It is similar for most airlines.
Perhaps it is because it's less 'sexy,' global-reaching, or involves less shiny aircraft. In Qatar Airways' case, most such services are on the ubiquitous and soon-to-be-retired A320ceo , which is hardly earth-shattering. The new CEO noted that 2024 should have been the date it was phased out, but things have changed a lot in the last few years.
Qatar Airways' least-served routes To get the results, I examined all passenger flights, both non-stop and one-stop, between August and December using OAG data. To be counted, destinations from Doha needed to have no more than 60 departures in the five months. The 11 results are summarized below.
For some routes, it meant summer-seasonal services, for others year-round but low frequency. One route, the only entry to see widebodies, ends soon. Note that some routes sometimes have similar weekly frequencies but do not make it due to exceeding 60 departures in total.
Route August-December departures Frequency Aircraft Comments Doha to Bodrum 22 Three weekly A320ceo Ends for the season on August 19 Doha to Adana 24 Three weekly A320ceo Ends for the season on August 25 Doha to Toulouse 39 Three weekly A330-200/300 Only began in 2023 , but the route ends on September 29 Doha to Mykonos 39 Four weekly A320ceo Ends for the season on September 7 Doha to Trabzon 40 Five weekly A320ceo Started in 2023 . Ends for the season on August 24 Doha to Antalya 45 Five weekly A320nceo Ends for the season on August 31 Doha to Al-Ula 52 Twice-weekly A320ceo Started in 2023 . Year-round Doha to Shiraz 52 Twice-weekly A320ceo Year-round Doha to Neom Bay 52 Twice-weekly A320ceo Started in 2023 .
Year-round Doha to Mashhad 52 Twice-weekly A320ceo Year-round Doha to Isfahan 52 Twice-weekly A320ceo Year-round Qatar Airways to Toulouse On July 18, 2023, the one world member began its fourth French route: Doha to Toulouse. It joined the long-served Paris CDG, along with Nice and Lyon. Flights to Lyon had only started 15 days earlier.
Toulouse's end was revealed in July 2024. For now, Qatar Airways continues to service the city three times weekly. QR47 leaves Qatar at 08:40 and arrives at 14:40, while QR48 departs at 16:25 and returns at 23:55.
The schedule maximizes two-way connectivity over its Doha hub. Despite this, the route performed insufficiently to continue. All routes take time to develop, especially long-haul, and not all will or are expected to succeed.
Toulouse was not doing well enough to continue. A lack of premium travel, insufficient loads overall, and too large equipment were contributory factors. While it started on the 260-seat A330-200, more than half of flights have been on the larger 305-seat A330-300.
It reduced loads and yields further and did not help financial performance or development. It was unusual for Qatar Airways to use the A330 to Europe. Few routes use the aging type, and Lyon flights – which started at a similar time as Toulouse – have been exclusively on the Boeing 787-8.
While some may conclude that the Airbus connection drove the A330 to be used for flights to Toulouse, it was a lack of availability of alternative aircraft. Indeed, the airline had said it would switch to the A350-900 when possible. Given the route ends soon, that won't happen now.
Perhaps Toulouse, and places like it, might be more suited to the A321LR when that equipment arrives..
