Qatar Airways Increases Flights to New York

DALLAS — Qatar Airways (QR) has announced that starting October 30, it will increase the frequency between Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH) and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) from two to three daily flights.

The new flight will conveniently arrive in the early morning and depart in the late evening from New York, allowing for connections from partner airlines such as American Airlines (AA), Alaska Airlines (AS), and JetBlue (B6).

Travelers from the United States will benefit from the enhanced connectivity between JFK-based B6 and QR. Passengers can connect to over 80 destinations in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe through Qatar’s hub in Doha.

QR became the global launch customer of the A350-1000, receiving its first example in February 2018. Photo: Qatar Airways

Destinations, Schedule

With three flights per day, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening, there will be seamless connections to cities in the United States that Qatar doesn’t serve, such as Detroit, Raleigh-Durham, Orlando, and Tampa. Moreover, there will be seamless connections for New York passengers through Doha to Bangkok, Kathmandu, and Johannesburg.

The two existing daily flights between Doha and New York are QR701 and QR705. QR flight QR701 departs Doha at 8:15 a.m. and arrives in New York JFK at 3:15 p.m. The return flight, QR702, departs JFK at 8:20 p.m. and arrives back in Doha the following day at 4:45 p.m. Qatar uses a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on this flight, which is equipped with 360 seats in two cabins: 42 lie-flat business class seats called the QSuite and 312 seats in economy.

The second daily flight, QR705, departs Doha at 3:30 PM and arrives at New York JFK at 10:20 PM the same day. The return flight, QR704, departs JFK at 10:15 AM and arrives back in Doha at 6:40 AM the following day. This flight is operated by an Airbus A350-1000, which is equipped with 327 seats in two cabins: 46 lie-flat business class seats called the QSuite and 281 seats in economy.

Starting October 30, the new flight QR703 will depart Doha at 1:25 AM and arrive in New York JFK at 8:15 AM. The return flight, QR706, will depart JFK at 1:20 AM and arrive back in Doha at 9:45 PM the same day.

Qatar Airways A7-BHC Boeing 787-9. Photo: Ervin Eslami/Airways

Comments from Qatar Airways CEO

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said, “We continue to offer seamless connectivity to our passengers from the U.S. market and beyond with the support of our strategic partners. Our unwavering commitment to our longstanding U.S. partners, American Airlines, JetBlue, and Alaska Airlines, is built on our mission to connect the world through our hub to our 160 destinations and more. We look forward to building more connections and uniting global passengers from across the world.”

This new flight comes as fellow Oneworld alliance member AA is shifting its flight between Doha and New York-JFK to Philadelphia (PHL) starting October 29. AA has described this as being part of its continuous evaluation of its route network. In June 2022, AA initially launched a daily service to Doha using a Boeing 777-300ER; however, on the new service between Philadelphia and New York, AA will use a Boeing 787-9 for the route.

Qatar Airways serves many key cities across the United States, including Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), Philadelphia (PHL), Miami (MIA), San Francisco (SFO), New York (JFK), Washington DC (IAD), and Seattle (SEA).

Featured image: A Qatar Airways 777-300ER. Photo: Daniel Crawford/Airways