In just five years, Qatar Airways (QR) has notched up some seriously impressive milestones by connecting thousands of flights from Sydney to the world. And while other airlines pulled their routes and parked their planes when COVID-19 hit, Qatar Airways stayed the course and has continued to bring Australians home.
It was 3 of March, 2016 when the first historic Qatar Airways flight – QR909 took off to great fanfare from Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Aiport bound for Doha in Qatar.
Five years on and 5,200 flights later, QR has flown a remarkable 1.6 million passengers on the sector, including repatriating 92,000 travellers back to Sydney, Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic to date.
What you may not know is that Sydney was in fact the third Australian destination port for Qatar Airways, after Melbourne (06/12/09) and Perth (03/07/12), and now services five major Australian cities – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Now operating 23 weekly passenger flights and two weekly freighter flights to Australia, supporting both repatriation and Australian exporters, the airline has proven itself to be an Aussie favourite for reliability, comfort and service.
If you love numbers as much as us, you’ll love this nerdy fact: In just five years, Sydney services have flown approximately 64 million kilometres across 5,200 flights – equating to 1,597 times around the Earth!
What’s next for Qatar Airways?
QR’s network continues to expand, with the Doha based airline now flying to over 130 destinations with 800 weekly flights across six continents.
When we can all fly again, an impressive global network across the Americas, Africa and Europe await, including Athens, Barcelona, Frankfurt, London, Rome, Munich, Paris, Prague, Vienna, Male, Seychelles, and Cape Town and New York awaits.
So while we may have to put our forward travel plans on hold, for now, Qatar Airways is ensuring that when borders reopen and passengers do take to the skies again, they will be there to help re-connect them to the world and loved ones once more.
Regional Manager Australasia Cassandra Kerr says: “I’m looking forward to seeing the Qatar Airways network continue to grow as travel picks up. We’ve been gradually reinstating suspended destinations and additional frequencies in line with the relaxation of entry restrictions around the world.”
“I believe travel will steadily return, limited by entry restrictions rather than customer confidence. People will want to travel again, experience the world, and meet friends and family as well as business travel restarting,” She continues.
“In many ways, the restrictions have made people realise how precious the ability to travel really is and perhaps was taken for granted.”
Cassandra Kerr, Regional Manager Australasia
Currently, Qatar Airways flight schedules include 7 flights per week from SYD and MEL, 4 flights per week from PER and 3 flights per week from ADL and BNE.
Complete flexibility all the way
All QR tickets issued before 30 April 2021 for travel up to 31 December 2021 are covered under a flexible booking policy that gives passengers a range of options should they decide to change their travel plans, or if those plans are impacted by factors outside their control.
For example, passengers can change their date and destination as many times as they need, and benefit from no fees on refunds.
Find out more here.
Anniversary sale offers
To celebrate Qatar Airways 5 years of service to Sydney, your customers can benefit from special anniversary fares available from 3 March 2021. Stay tuned for more information.
Find out more: www.qatarairways.com
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