Qatar Airways adds more Heathrow flights using TAROM slots
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Take-off and landing slots at Heathrow are a scarce resource but Qatar Airways has managed to get its hands on another pair thanks to Romanian flag carrier TAROM.
ACL, which co-ordinates slots at Heathrow, has recorded a “permanent slot transfer” from TAROM to Qatar Airways from 27th October 2024, indicating they have been sold. No price was given, although previous Heathrow slots have gone for many millions.
Most recently, I think, Air New Zealand’s were sold for £20m. The record is believed to be $75m, paid to Air France KLM by Oman Air back in 2016.
The additional slot pair will allow Qatar Airways to launch its eighth daily Heathrow flight:
- QR110 departs Heathrow at 15:30 and lands in Doha at 01:10 the following morning
- QR109 departs Doha at 09:30 and lands at Heathrow at 14:05 the same day.
These flights are scheduled to operate on a Boeing 777-300ER, which the Qatar Airways website shows features Qsuite. Flights are now bookable.
On a random Thursday in November, Qatar Airways is sending the following aircraft to Heathrow:
- 4 x 777-300ERs (Qsuite) 312/42
- 1 x 777-200LR (Qsuite) 230/42
- 1 x A380 461/48/8
- 1 x A350-1000 (Qsuite) 281/46
- 1 x A350-900 (Qsuite) 247/36
In total, Qatar Airways is selling just over 2,800 seats per day (one way) of which 340 are in business class. The vast majority of these are scheduled as Qsuite, with only the A380 featuring the older Super Diamond seat.
If travelling in business class, you’ll also be able to enjoy Qatar’s new caviar service as London is one of the 13 routes to get this.
The addition of this flight does not appear to have an impact on Gatwick, which will continue to see two flights per day. With just one additional flight filed (for now), pulling out of Gatwick completely would mean losing one daily frequency per day to London. Long term, of course, Qatar Airways could try and get its hands on more Heathrow slots and consolidate there.
TAROM, meanwhile, is left without a scheduled London service. So far, it has not announced replacement flights to another London airport, although I should imagine Gatwick is top of the list. TAROM’s current service will end on 27th October.
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