NEWS FLASH
Qatar Airways plans to expand its European network in the coming period. The move comes after the airline significantly reduced capacity in former Yugoslav markets over the past six years, primarily due to a shortage of narrow-body aircraft. The carrier’s new CEO, Hamad Al-Khater, recently met with his counterpart at Airbus and confirmed the first deliveries of the Airbus A321neo. “Qatar Airways expects the first batch of A321s to arrive in the fourth quarter of the year, expanding its options for secondary cities in Europe and emerging markets”, Mr Al-Khater said.
Prior to the pandemic, Qatar Airways served both Skopje and Sarajevo on a year-round basis, with the latter since downgraded to a summer seasonal operation, while Skopje has been discontinued. At the same time, flights to Zagreb and Belgrade operated at higher frequencies than they do today. In 2020, the carrier had also planned to launch services to Dubrovnik. Over the past year, authorities in Macedonia, Slovenia and Montenegro have all expressed interest in securing new Qatar Airways flights.
QR only has itself to blame for its predicament.
ReplyDeleteNot itself but their last CEO who was a self-obsessed mess.
DeleteAnd who appointed and supported that CEO for far too long in his windmill battle against Airbus?
DeleteThe previous CEO of QR had nothing to do with this situation, he was only CEO for a year before he got replaced by the current one.
DeleteThe one before him, Al Baker, is the one who messed it all up for them.
At the same time, Al Baker built up the company from scratch. It is the second largest airline by international passengets in the world because of him.
DeleteInternational passengers is not a good metric. Qatar has no domestic traffic at all so all of its passengers are international. India, China and USA are huge domestic markets and obviously their airlines will not have as many international passengers.
DeleteHuh? It is the second largest airline in the world by international passengets carried after Emirates. How are you saying that is not an achievement?
DeleteIt's an achievement but it's not a relevant one. "International passengers" is a flawed metric because Qatar has no domestic flights and all passengers are international. It is totally useless to look at this when you have the huge domestic markets of India, USA and China.
DeleteOf course it's a relevant metric.
DeleteSo, we should expect SKP from summer season 2027
ReplyDeleteNo
DeleteEarlier? :O
DeleteNo you won't see Qatar in Skopje keep dreaming
DeleteAlthough would be awesome if they return i doubt they will for the time being, most Aussies and New zelanders use Tk or other airlines to get to Macedonia
DeleteWell i think they should go back to double daily in Zagreb ... Or start Ljubljana.
ReplyDeleteLjubljana 3x weekly by December
ReplyDeleteSure hahaha
DeleteYou didn't say which year so yes, my guess is by 2035
DeleteThey’re either gonna launch SKG or SKP
ReplyDeleteMaybe TIA
DeleteTIA for sure. In exyu, i think PRN/SKP and DBV at least seasonally.
Delete