Qatar Airways to return to Canberra
 

As of Oct 1st , Qatar Airways will be returning to Canberra . It will operate a Doha - Melbourne - Canberra service with a B777-300ER on a daily basis , the flight being QR988/ 989 . It previously operated a Doha - Sydney - Canberra service .

Dave C

It has been suggested that both Vic and the ACT used their attraction funds for this flight and tag that would have previously been the DOH-SYD-CBR-SYD-DOH A35K rotation.

It also suggests that the A380 will continue for SYD.

The arrival flight time, especially into Canberra is not very friendly. Arrival MEL 23:05; departs MEL 00:35; with arrival in CBR 01:50. Afternoon departure is much more convenient with the aircraft on the ground in CBR for over 12 hours.

More details of the new flight here:

https://simpleflying.com/qatar-airwa...lia-schedules/

Source: Simple Flying

During the World Cup though, the flight to Canberra will switch to QR904 / QR905, which friendlier arrival / departure times in Canberra.

QR904 - DOH 1840 - 1855+1 CBR with stopover in Melbourne
QR905 - CBR 2025 - 0535+1 DOH with stopover in Melbourne

More reasonable arrival time and departure time I reckon.

It’s amazing I think , how the previous long layover at CBR was an uneconomical issue , however, now it’s acceptable to QR because of a “ strategic agreement “ with the VIC government. What’s they mean ? . Also it’s stated CBR offers great connections , who’s going to connect anywhere at 0200 hrs .

Dave C

Yes, I noticed the spin too. Just write the script to fit the circumstance, no matter if it contradicts previous comments. I presume that the Victorian and ACT "attraction" funds must be pretty substantial.

Afternoon all,

Looks like Qatar has scrapped the Canberra flight. The 2nd daily flight to Melbourne will still go ahead, unsure of the new stopover point.

https://www.executivetraveller.com/n...UTeCLXoieq5NOw

Has Qatar been granted an increase in its Australian capacity to allow the second flight into MEL to continue without the CBR extension?

The register of capacity is offline so cant check, I thought it was open skies = no limit but not sure.

It looks like Adelaide is the connecting point according to the QR cargo website. The aircraft will route DOH-MEL-ADL-MEL-DOH. The Adelaide leg is cargo/ferry only, not a passenger service like the planned Canberra flight.