Or Lose Morning Slots In Manila
18 March 2019
The directive forced Qatar Airways to announced the start of Doha and Davao at the risk of terminating its morning slots at the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport effective April 1.
The airline said new service will begin in June and operated once a week with a Boeing 787 plane. The company said it will increase the flight in the future.
Qatar has made commitments to the Philippines for Qatar Airways to fly Davao City in 2017 in exchange for 4 more landing slots in the morning which Qatar Airways had taken immediately without launching flights to Davao in 2018. See Story here . The Qatari breach infuriated President Rodrigo Duterte who is from that region that he wants these slots revoked immediately.
The airline has been quick to attribute delay to aircraft availability but has been told by the Philippine regulator that it is not their problem if they lack planes.
Qatar Airways CEO Al Baker said they will comply with the Order but said Davao service will initially be only weekly, “because of the shortage of aircraft we have at Qatar Airways”.
Industry sources said this is the only destination of the airline flown once a week.
18 March 2019
Qatar Airways was issued final warning by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to fly Davao or lose entitlement the regulatory agency granted the airline to fly additional four morning slots at Manila International Airport (NAIA) after the airline failed to comply its flight commitment in 2018.
The directive forced Qatar Airways to announced the start of Doha and Davao at the risk of terminating its morning slots at the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport effective April 1.
The airline said new service will begin in June and operated once a week with a Boeing 787 plane. The company said it will increase the flight in the future.
Qatar has made commitments to the Philippines for Qatar Airways to fly Davao City in 2017 in exchange for 4 more landing slots in the morning which Qatar Airways had taken immediately without launching flights to Davao in 2018. See Story here . The Qatari breach infuriated President Rodrigo Duterte who is from that region that he wants these slots revoked immediately.
The airline has been quick to attribute delay to aircraft availability but has been told by the Philippine regulator that it is not their problem if they lack planes.
Qatar Airways CEO Al Baker said they will comply with the Order but said Davao service will initially be only weekly, “because of the shortage of aircraft we have at Qatar Airways”.
Industry sources said this is the only destination of the airline flown once a week.
To say they lack aircraft is the biggest lie of them all. Qatar just made this statement last week at ITB trade fair in Berlin. The strangest of these routes Qatar will fly is Davao which is flown just once a day.
ReplyDelete"Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, announced an array of forthcoming global destinations the airline will launch in 2019, including Lisbon, Portugal; Malta; Rabat, Morocco; Langkawi, Malaysia; Davao, Philippines; Izmir, Turkey and Mogadishu, Somalia."
https://ftnnews.com/aviation/36492-qatar-airways-to-launch-seven-new-routes-including-izmir-turkey
No airline in its right mind would want to fly a scheduled flight once a week 4000nm away. But why? Lost of 1600 seats could be the answer to that question. QR sends 412 seater 777 plane to Manila. And that is always fully booked. That is the reason PAL added another flight to DOH because you cannot get a cheaper seat at QTR. If it closes, PAL will need to add 5 more flights just to service this demand from MNL. While PAL would like that QTR surely wont.
Nice information. Thanks for sharing this article.
ReplyDelete