The hypothesis is over, and it is official: Qatar Airways will stop operations between Doha’s Hamad Worldwide Airport (DOH) and Philadelphia Worldwide Airport (PHL), the airline confirmed, permitting Oneworld associate American Airways to take over the route.
As a substitute, Qatar will shift that flight over to New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK), assuming the frequency that American itself initially relocated to PHL.
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Qatar will add the JFK frequency beginning Oct. 30, whereas American will start flying between DOH and PHL on Oct. 28.
American introduced earlier this month that it was shifting its splashy JFK-DOH route over to PHL, a part of the aftermath of the airline’s Northeast Alliance with JetBlue coming to an finish.
American has comparatively poor connectivity to JFK, working its hub there primarily to attach New York-originating passengers to its world community through associate hubs. Below the NEA, connectivity on associate airline JetBlue added sufficient that American thought it might assist the route.
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For Qatar, its personal partnership with JetBlue, unbiased of Oneworld or the now-defunct NEA, is sufficient to assist the brand new third-daily flight from JFK.
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The airline additionally stated that it plans to develop its codeshare with Alaska Airways within the coming weeks to extend its West Coast connectivity.
“Our unwavering dedication to our longstanding U.S. companions, American Airways, JetBlue and Alaska Airways is constructed on our mission to attach the world via our hub to our 160 locations and extra,” Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker stated in a press launch. “We stay up for constructing extra connections and uniting world passengers from internationally.”
Qatar will function the New York flight with the identical Boeing 777-300ER it used on the PHL route, which is supplied with the airline’s splashy Qsuite business-class product.
American, in the meantime, will assign its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to its new route from PHL, outfitted with 30 reverse herringbone business-class pods, 21 premium economic system recliners, 36 extra-legroom Primary Cabin Additional seats and 198 normal economic system seats. It used a 777-300ER on the route from JFK earlier than ending it, which featured the airline’s Flagship First product.
