Qatar Airways updates Auckland to Doha route

Amid the recent fuel crisis and Middle East conflicts earlier this year, Qatar Airways ended its non-stop Auckland-Doha flights that were operated by their Airbus A350-1000s and briefly their -900s.

After a short break, the route restarted with a Boeing 777-300er flying from Doha to Auckland via Adelaide. However, the airline announced it will also end this service in December this year, leaving DOH-ADL to become a standalone service again.

One of Qatar’s Boeing 777-300er aircraft departing Auckland for Adelaide | Photo: Noah Stohr-Waldren

From December 9th this year, Qatar will begin flying to Auckland through Melbourne. It'll be the first time Qatar has flown to Auckland through Melbourne, replacing the current setup with the flight having traffic rights available.

The 354-seater Boeing 777-300 that is currently deployed to AKL via ADL is the same layout that Qatar Airways currently uses on DOH-MEL-DOH and which Virgin Australia uses on the same route on behalf of Qatar Airways. The pair will have three daily DOH-MEL flights later this year.

This new setup of the flight means that there will be four competitor airlines; Jetstar, Qantas, Air New Zealand and Qatar operating the Melbourne to Auckland route daily with almost 100 flights between AKL-MEL per week between the four airlines.

However, the short stop in Melbourne will be short lived with Qatar swapping it for a Doha to Auckland via Brisbane service from the 27th of June 2027 after just seven months of operating the route.

The Doha to Auckland flight via Brisbane will be also be operated by Qatar’s 354 seat Boeing 777-300ers.