Qatar Airways announces Canberra to Doha flight to start next year
Jul 23, 2017 under Australia 90 , Nepalese in Australia 91 , Travel 114
Canberra travellers will soon be able to fly to Doha, with Qatar Airways announcing the details of a daily flight from the capital's airport to begin next year. It will not be a direct link to the Middle East, with the flights to go via Sydney in both directions.
The first flight is scheduled for February 12, 2018. The airline has begun selling seats online, but a Canberra Airport spokesperson said they were awaiting formal confirmation from Qatar Airways about the details of the new flights.
The airport says Qatar Airlines is awaiting final regulatory approvals from the Federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development to operate daily flights into Canberra via Sydney. The flight will arrive in Canberra from Sydney at 8:25am each day, before departing Canberra at 1:45pm for Sydney and continuing on to Doha.
Qatar Airways currently only has direct rights for one Sydney flight a day, but this move is seen as a backdoor method to double that. The Middle Eastern airline will not be able to sell tickets for the domestic leg between Sydney and Canberra. The airline announced Canberra was in its sights last November, listing the city as one of eight destinations it wanted to fly to in 2017-18.
Singapore Airlines became the first carrier in more than a decade to offer a direct regular international service from Canberra Airport when it started last September.
