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Qatar Airways returns to Birmingham and announces new Asian routes

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Qatar Airways had some positive news for Avios collectors in the Midlands yesterday with the announcement that flights to Birmingham International are to resume.

The airline had served Birmingham pre-pandemic but hadn’t rushed to bring back flights.

The good news is that the ramp up will be quick.

I was in Berlin yesterday to see the announcement, as part of the ludicrously huge ITB travel trade fair. If you’ve ever wondered what an airline press conference is like, they are like this (bonus points if you can spot me!):

When do Qatar Airways flights to Birmingham start?

Flights from Birmingham will resume on 10th July.

It will be a daily service.

The timings jump around. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday it is an 9am departure (arriving 5.55pm) whilst on other days it is a 2.45pm flight, landing just before midnight.

Similarly, the return flight from Doha on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday is overnight (2.20am departure, arrives 7.30am). On other days it is a more civilised day flight, departing at 8am and arriving just after 1pm.

The aircraft will be a Boeing 787-8 so you won’t be getting Qsuite. It is the same seat as the Qatar Airways A380 business class seat I reviewed last week.

(Hat-tip to @SeanM1997 on Twitter for the timings.)

What other destinations were announced?

If you are looking to redeem Avios on Qatar Airways, either from Birmingham or elsewhere, it is also worth flagging the other new routes announced yesterday.

Start dates vary and some will be towards the end of the year. The airline was clear that some may be brought forward if aircraft deliveries can be accelerated.

Routes being launched for the first time are:

  • Chittagong (Bangladesh)
  • Juba (South Sudan)
  • Kinshasa (DR Congo)
  • Lyon
  • Medan (North Sumatra, Indonesia)
  • Toulouse
  • Trabzon (Turkey)

As well as Birmingham, routes being resumed post covid are:

  • Beijing
  • Buenos Aires
  • Casablanca
  • Davao (Philippines)
  • Marrakesh
  • Nice
  • Osaka
  • Phnom Penh
  • Ras Al-Khaimah
  • Tokyo Haneda

There are clearly some good Asian opportunities here.

Add in 35 routes with frequency increases and Qatar Airways will be operating 21% more daily flights in July 2023 vs July 2022. There is no sign of Cardiff resuming unfortunately.

How many Avios do you need for Qatar Airways flights?

Funny you should ask. We recently published the only chart available anywhere showing pricing from the UK for Qatar Airways Avios redemptions.

These new destinations are not on the list, of course, but it won’t be difficult to guess the pricing based on cities in a similar geographic region.

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Category

Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (45)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • ChrisBCN says:
    8 Mar8 March 07:57

    Seems like there is no business availability BHX-DOH through July and August

    • Andrew J says:
      8 Mar8 March 08:12

      Seems to be bookable from what I’m seeing.

      • ChrisBCN says:
        8 Mar8 March 09:41

        Oops, I meant via avios

      • Aston100 says:
        8 Mar8 March 09:44

        I’ve been checking since yesterday afternoon.
        Economy rewards seats were available yesterday.
        Business class Q2 double Avios seats are available from today.
        I cannot see any regular priced business class award seats in July or early August.
        Perhaps they will unlock in the coming days.

        However, I wonder if there will continue to be no availability from DOH to popular destinations that were already sold out (the usual BKK, KUL, SIN etc)? If so, it might not be possible to get further than DOH this year?

        • Aston100 says:
          8 Mar8 March 09:45

          On Avios I mean.

        • DonLee says:
          8 Mar8 March 14:06

          Qatar definitely has blackout date though they told Rob they don’t. I have been checking MAN-DOH since last year the standard avios availability end at 6th July.

          • ChrisBCN says:
            8 Mar8 March 15:48

            I’m inclined to agree, I have been checking various Europe to Doha routes, haven’t found anything for all of July and August on those routes

  • Miles. OnPoint. says:
    8 Mar8 March 08:29

    It would be great to know if Qatar are planning to restart the route to Da Nang (DAD) in Vietnam.

    Always wanted to visit Hoi An and would be nice to be able to minimize internal travel (vs flying into SGN)

    • Rob says:
      8 Mar8 March 08:44

      This seems to be the full list for 2023, given that a couple on the list won’t launch until late Autumn anyway.

      • Miles. OnPoint. says:
        8 Mar8 March 10:09

        Understood, thanks Rob. Hopefully they will add it back in the near future once they have more aircraft available again.

    • Jonathan says:
      8 Mar8 March 11:10

      Hoi An was great, I loved it there

  • PeterK says:
    8 Mar8 March 08:32

    If only a daily flight it’s best for connectivity to have half as am flights and half as pm. Turkish Airlines does the same when launching a new route with a daily service.

  • TGLoyalty says:
    8 Mar8 March 08:37

    Completely disagree 8am is more civilised than 2:20am!

    • Aston100 says:
      8 Mar8 March 10:22

      Both sound pretty bad. I suppose I would opt for the 02:20 departure as the lesser of two evils.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        8 Mar8 March 19:35

        4pm checkout or later in Middle East. Dinner … head to airport few drinks and sleep from take off to touchdown. 2:20am is perfect.

        8am. You waste the night or get no sleep and end up rushing to the airport

        Agree that 9am out of BHX is no picnic.

    • Ironside says:
      8 Mar8 March 10:34

      If it’s BHX, I’d be concerned about getting through morning security in time for an 8am departure.

      (1.5 hours standing around last time I was on a 7:30am flight. Apparently “this is normal for a Monday”)

  • Pogonation says:
    8 Mar8 March 13:24

    Wish they came to NCL!

  • David says:
    8 Mar8 March 13:52

    OT will Aer Lingus or Iberia ever do a MAD to Asia as I find it astonishing they go everywhere south and west but nothing East. To utilize the 241 there?

    • Tom says:
      8 Mar8 March 14:39

      I’d also wondered that.

    • JDB says:
      8 Mar8 March 15:38

      There are plenty of other OW airlines going East; IB is better to stick principally to its strong and profitable franchise in Central/South America and for EI it doesn’t really fit the model. There’s one thing hoping you can use your voucher to yet more places but there airlines are looking for a commercial return.

    • ADS says:
      8 Mar8 March 15:39

      did Aer Lingus once fly to the Middle East, or was that just an Etihad code share?

      the Aer Lingus brand has no visibility in Asia, so from an IAG perspective, I can’t see it being a priority

  • James says:
    9 Mar9 March 22:02

    I still cant believe I once flew Qatar business from Birmingham to Phuket return for £970.

    Absolutley unthinkable these days.

  • Jag says:
    16 Mar16 March 07:40

    trying to book BHX – DOH for December but only getting flight schedule till September. Does anyone know when they will release schedule for after September?

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