CRAZY – Qatar Are Sending Their A380 To Perth?!

by Zac George
a row of seats with computers on the back of a plane

Ok, when I first saw this I didn’t really know what to say – why, what, are Qatar crazy? they all seem to fit. The airline is known to do some pretty crazy and adventurous things which has earned them a reputation. I quite like the airline and find their CEO very intriguing but they really do make some interesting decisions sometimes and this is one of them…

Australian Business Traveller reports that Qatar will place their A380 on the Perth route instead of their 777-300ER which is currently operating the route at this time.

a plane on the runway at night

Qatar Airways A380 Arriving Into Sydney Image – Bernard Proctor

No you didn’t read that wrong, PERTH will get the carriers A380! Currently Sydney and Melbourne both get the Qatar A380 and even those routes don’t fully utilise the aircraft. I’ve flown the Sydney leg twice (once from both ports Doha & Sydney) and the flights have never had fantastic loads. First has always been empty, Business maybe half full and Economy has been average.

I understand major Oneworld hubs getting the aircraft but does Perth really need this aircraft? I really don’t think this is a logical decision and think the carrier could have put it on another route where they will actually profit off it.

I’m really just confused and am just sitting here trying to figure out what the heck they would do it but oh well. Even if they wanted to, Qatar couldn’t launch another route use the aircraft there as they’ve already reached the maximum services allowed by the government. If they were allowed, I could see them put it on a Brisbane service if that ever did happen.

a seat in a plane

Qatar A380 First Class Seat 1A

Emirates is the only carrier flying a First Class cabin to the Middle East from Perth and there just isn’t too much demand for premium travel, Etihad use a 2-class 787 without first and Qatar’s 777 is 2-class as well.

Qatar, you’re one interesting airline…

H/T – Australian Business Traveller

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21 comments

Sam December 15, 2017 - 7:45 pm

You’ve answered your own question. QR have reached the maximum number of flights they are legally allowed to operate directly to MEL/SYD/PER/BNE (21 per week, this is why they don’t fly to BNE). The only way they can increase capacity is to upsize the aircraft type on these 21 flights per week.
I don’t think there’s much premium demand out of PER either but obviously there’s enough to warrant a larger plane.
You taking 2 flights SYD flights is not representative of PER demand

Zac George December 15, 2017 - 7:47 pm

I’m more than aware that taking two flights from SYD doesn’t represent the loads from SYD, that’s where Expertflyer and talking to contacts come in…

Rupert December 15, 2017 - 9:47 pm

No matter how many contacts you talk to, rest assured that they have better data to make that decision than you do. They are putting the plane on the most promising route, based on their load levels, forecasts and government restrictions…route planning is as close to rocket science or brain surgery as you’ll get in travel…

Zac George December 15, 2017 - 10:00 pm

Think of it this way, if you were in revenue management wouldn’t you rather put your most expensive aircraft on a route that will perform in a premium market? JFK for example is a fantastic and logical move as it really does have the demand which is evident from the other ME2 and even Qatar has said it’s a key market.

Andrew December 22, 2017 - 1:16 am

They know what they are doing. The a380 will only service perth till Nov 2018. After this, the 777 will be reinstated featuring their new Qsuites. A little research…

Zac George December 22, 2017 - 1:23 am

I realise they know what they’re doing. Also, Unless QR announce where they’re actually sending QSuites that’s when I write about it, they often swap and change around.

Geogr December 16, 2017 - 8:40 am

I’ve done Syd-Doha 4 times and best I’ve seen was about 70% full, even when they used to fly with boeing 777 they couldn’t fill up their seats but replaced it with A380 which was crazy just like this one. I figured they dont make profit but rather trying to advertise Qatar and hoping one day they will make some profit. They dont follow normal business guidelines, qatar airways is owned by the kingdom and its not an IPO, would be bust in a month if it was. Their problem is marketing, tickets are too cheap and usually amongs airlines such as Malaysian and air asia and people think the would offer same services as them but Qatar airways actually is as good as Emirates and pretty close to Qantas
Sad thing is that dependency on these 3 middle eastern airlines is growing and doesn’t look like its going to change anytime soon

Morgan December 16, 2017 - 10:42 pm

Zac i think its a fantastic decision on Qatars part and yes it was unexpected but they have reached maximum capcity on flights to syd mel per and bne and they dont fly to bne so they obviously were getting good yields on the PER – DOH route to make this work and just because you took two half full flights out of sydney doesn’t make you an expert on yields out of perth yes sydney has a higher population than perth but did you know perth has the highest number of UK migrants in Australia therefore the Perth to London route is a very popuar route hence why Qantas is launching direct flights and why Singapore Airlines have four daily flights out of Perth so why while it was unexpected it does make sense.

Jonathan Spazzapan December 20, 2017 - 11:48 am

I’d honestly say that this Post smacks of petulant jealously,
Or let’s say a bitter rivalry of BNE hating on PER !
Hoestly Zac, have you ever flown into PER ?
I don’t see any reviews of the OF J lounge on your blog ?..Try and say something or be positive ,, I think it’s great how Qatar gives not only PER but places like ADL a go..
as, unforunatley you’ll end up with no readers at all

Zac George December 20, 2017 - 12:29 pm

Interesting comment 1. I have no hate for Perth, I’ve visited many times and if you search for Perth, you’ll see I have reviewed the QF J lounge and flights to/from Perth.

I’m entitled to my opinion on the matter and my thoughts are that QR putting their largest aircraft on a route that isn’t the most profitable is crazy, do you have to agree with them? No. If you don’t like it don’t read it.

Morgan December 20, 2017 - 10:51 pm

@Jonathan Spazzapan i agree with you on the part about giving ADL and places like that a go and selling them very important and that attracts tourism.

Tom December 22, 2017 - 11:36 pm

After reading this post i am thinking that you really must hate Perth, Qatar have obviously done their research and this is the best decision better than JFK they obviously took that into account when deciding which route would get it and you also said to a commenter that JFK has demand for Qatars A380 evident by Emirates and Etihad yet they are both cancelling flights to the US and have said Yields on US routes have been terrible due to a number of reasons including Trumps Travel Ban you also say you could see Qatar fly their A380 to BNE(which is bias) well Qatar don’t even fly to BNE as their is no demand for it whatsoever and they don’t want to fly to Brisbane hence why to fly to Melbourne Sydney and Perth as they all have high demands.

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/11/02/etihad-cancels-dallas-flight/
http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/04/19/emirates-service-reductions-to-the-us/
https://thepointsguy.com/2017/10/etihad-further-cuts-us-routes/

Zac George December 22, 2017 - 11:41 pm

I don’t hate Perth at all, I quite like the city actually. To me it just doesn’t seem right and that’s my thoughts. I did also state QR can’t fly to BNE…

Tom December 23, 2017 - 8:42 pm

Okay thanks Zac have a good christmas

Andrew January 9, 2018 - 4:29 pm

I’ve used Qatar twice from Perth in the past 3 years. Both times the 777 was absolutely packed. And nearly all my friends now use it as their choice to Europe. My only thought here is, with Emirates using an A380 at a similar time, I thought our Perth Airport only had 1 A380 gate at the moment. thoughts?

Dave January 10, 2018 - 3:59 pm

I routinely fly in and out of Perth on Qatar in business and it is almost always full. I tried to get a last minute flight recently and there was no availability for 3 days. Perth isn’t as big as Sydney or Melbourne but it is still underserviced by international carriers, especially for premium flyers.

alison January 11, 2018 - 2:23 pm

I was interested to read the comment that as of november they are reverting to the 777 with Qsuite.
Having just booked, it has reverted to the 777/300 but it is the 2-2-2 old style business class

Richard January 24, 2018 - 12:10 am

Can I ask if the A380 being pulled in Nov 18 just that a rumour?

Mark S January 27, 2018 - 11:35 pm

No offence to Perth – I did once live there! – but Qatar should really have 380’s on routes such as Cape Town and Johannesburg. Those QR flights are always crammed to the gunnels and I often have trouble getting business seats, especially on the Cape Town route (where they now use a 777 with the old seating to cram everyone in, instead of the new Dreamliner they initially used which was a pleasure of a flight).

An odder decision still is that the West Country in England, with a large and relatively well-heeled population (including places like Bristol, Bath, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and a huge population when all taken together), has none of the international carriers flying into it. Qatar, Emirates, etc, are servicing places like Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and even Newcastle. They have instead decided to fly to Cardiff, but that airport is in a highly inconvenient place for anyone in the South West of England. For example, my home base in the UK is Bristol, but it is still going to be much easier with little time difference to go all the way to Heathrow or Birmingham for a Qatar flight, given the strange location and the arrival and departure times of the new Cardiff flights. In fact, I’ve already booked several flights this year that occur after the start of the Cardiff routing, but it made far more sense to book BA, KLM and indeed other Qatar flights to Heathrow and Birmingham to get to and from Bristol.

I am a QR Privilege Club Platinum member living as an expat in Kuwait and must fly at least 20-40 QR sectors a year, all on Business and First, yet I do find their decisions as to what routes and flights to prioritise quite odd.

Paul March 19, 2018 - 12:17 pm

No demand out of Brisbane what a load of rubbish. Qatar needs to come here end of story.

K July 28, 2018 - 2:01 pm

I think they are picking up some traffic indirectly from BNE and maybe other hubs not serviced by QR directly.

I live in BNE and have flown QR each time I fly back to MAN to visit family (stopping over at DOH); twice out of PER, once out of MEL and once out of ADL. Every time I have returned via PER since the connections were better heading onward to BNE, and due to the indirect route, the pricing has been fantastic.

I think increasing density is a good strategy to pick up price-conscious passengers who don’t mind the extra jump either in or out of Australia, until they can get the extra flights to service places like BNE directly.

Comments are closed.