Qatar Airways has been forced to make changes to two forthcoming route launches, as the carrier works on “adjusting capacity on routes across its network as a result of the grounding of its Boeing 787s which has impacted operations”.
Qatar’s new route to Chicago will now launch with a three times-weekly service from April 10, with the planned daily operation being postponed until June 15.
The Doha-based carrier has also confirmed it will delay the start of flights to Chengdu “to a later date”, just a fortnight before the route’s launch date of March 19.
Qatar’s CEO Akbar Al Baker apologised for the capacity adjustments, which he said were “caused by the grounding of the 787s”, and which were “out of our hands”.
In January the carrier was forced to postpone the introduction of the Dreamliner onto its Doha-Perth route, which was due to have commenced on February 1 (see online news January 17).
Boeing grounded 50 Dreamliner aircraft across eight carriers in mid-January, following a series of incidents including concerns including the safety of onboard batteries.
For more information visit qatarairways.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
