Qatar Airways is considering opening new routes to Russia. In addition, the carrier intends to increase the number of flights to St. Petersburg in the foreseeable future and deploy wide-body aircraft on this route, Travel.ru's own correspondent reports.
— Yes, we are planning other routes to Russia, — said Akbar al-Baker, CEO of the Qatar Airways group of companies. — These will be excellent destinations. I will not name them now, so as not to give information to competitors and so that they do not fly there earlier. Because competitors are constantly copying us. For example, two of our neighbors (referring to Emirates and Etihad Airways — Travel.ru note) are constantly trying to imitate us, and now we are trying not only to limit information about our plans, but also, if possible, to make products that are difficult to copy. For example, our new version of business class Q Suite cannot be copied. It is patented, and you cannot just go and order it from the manufacturer. Our Q Suite can be used for 2 or 4 people, if desired, four can sit there at a dining or conference table, two can lie down, and so on. In short, for now I will only say about the new Russian routes that these will be amazing destinations, and no one even knows which ones.
— Are you satisfied with sales on the new Doha-St. Petersburg route? And what is the share of transfer passengers on your Russian flights?
— We do not publish sales or passenger traffic data, because this information helps our competitors. But I can say that we are already seriously considering the possibility of introducing a second daily flight Doha-St. Petersburg. We also expect that the not very large Airbus A320, which flies now, will eventually be replaced by wide-body aircraft — like the Boeing 787, on which we made the initial flight.
— Why is the schedule to St. Petersburg different on different days? Is it due to aircraft turnover or connections in Doha?
— If it weren’t for the different schedules, we wouldn’t be able to offer short connections. Three days a week we fly to St. Petersburg on one schedule, the other four on a different schedule. One day you can quickly connect in Doha, for example, to a flight to Singapore or Hong Kong, the next day — to Bangkok or Delhi. For example, the total flight time from St. Petersburg to Bangkok is just over 15 hours, to Singapore — 16 and a half hours. More than six of these hours are the flight from St. Petersburg to Doha, the rest is the time for the transfer and the flight to the destination. No other airline can offer such a fast flight from St. Petersburg. If we set the same schedule for all days, we wouldn’t be able to offer good connections on some routes. When we double the frequency of flights to St. Petersburg, each of the schedule options will become daily, and a short connection to the vast majority of our Asian and Pacific destinations will be available daily.
— Have you noticed any increase in the number of bookings from Russia after Qatar lifted visas for Russian citizens?
— Taking this opportunity, I would like to lobby for a reciprocal step — I would really like Qatari citizens to also receive visa-free entry to Russia. As for demand, we recently launched a third daily flight to Moscow not to carry fresh air. We carry passengers, and there are more of them. Again, I cannot give specific figures. We are also helped by cooperation with Siberia (S7 Airlines), which brings us passengers to Moscow for connections from 30 Russian cities at once. Qatar is a wonderful destination for tourists from Russia: 365 sunny days a year, friendly people, amazing culture.
— How do you find working under the blockade that Qatar is experiencing from neighboring countries? What impact has it had on the airline’s business?
— Of course, it has affected our work. First of all, our expenses have increased, because we can no longer fly over the territories of the countries that have organized the blockade and are forced to fly in some directions by circuitous routes. However, this does not bother most of our passengers from Russia, because the direction to the east towards the countries of Asia and Australia is practically not affected by the blockade. In general, blockades should not exist in the world. It is illegal, because the airspace, starting from a certain altitude, no longer belongs to the country, it is international airspace. FIR (flight information region) belongs to the world, and not to the country that governs it. All this is being done in order to influence our political position. But they will not succeed, the Qataris are proud that they did not allow anyone to govern them. We will win and make them respect our independence. We at Qatar Airways responded to the blockade by opening a whole series of new routes with which we replaced the lost lines to our neighbors. Among the routes that are most interesting to Russian passengers are Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Penang, Medan, Canberra. Of course, I hope that the blockade will end someday, but we will never again rely on flights to countries that organized it.
Let us remind you that Doha — St. Petersburg flights are operated daily since December 19. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, departure from Doha is at 7:30, arrival in St. Petersburg is at 13:50. Return departure is at 17:25, arrival in Doha is at 23:30. On Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, departure from Doha is at 15:55, arrival in St. Petersburg is at 22:10. Return departure is at 23:15, arrival in Doha is at 5:20.
The route will use an Airbus A320 aircraft (although the first flight on December 19 was made for presentation purposes by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner). The Airbus A320 seats 132 passengers - 12 lie-flat business class seats and 120 economy class seats with individual entertainment systems.
The minimum ticket price to Doha is very high - about $1000 round trip. However, the lion's share of Qatar Airways passengers fly via Doha to various countries in Asia, Africa and the Pacific region, where they can count on prices one and a half to two times lower. In addition, Qatar Airways continues to sell flights from St. Petersburg via Moscow to Doha and further to the destination - they can be used if the new St. Petersburg flight is not suitable for some reason. Let us remind you that entry to Qatar for Russian citizens is now visa-free, and the flight can be used for a stopover in this country during a transfer.
Source: travel.ru
