Increased demand means Doha’s national airline will double the number of seats it provides to and from Berlin with effect from December 1.
Qatar Airways has been serving Berlin for eight years. Flights with the existing 144-seat two-class A320 initially operated four times a week. Today’s daily service will be upgraded to a larger 272-seat two-class A330-200 providing a substantial capacity boost.
It will also mean improved seating for business class passengers. Although the A330 is not yet fitted with fully-flat beds in business class, its angled lie-flat accommodation (legroom 60 inches) represents an improvement over the A320’s recliner seats (legroom 45 inches).
The A330 is equipped with 24 business and 248 economy seats, whereas the A320 provides seating for just 12 passengers in business and 144 in economy class.
The expansion is perfectly timed for the start of the peak travel season between Europe, South East Asia and Australasia. It also ties in nicely with Qatar Airways’ entry into the Oneworld alliance later this month (see news September 9).
Depending on the day of the week, Qatar’s services depart Berlin Tegel either at tea-time or in the evening. The inbound flights depart Doha either in the morning or early afternoon. Having different schedules allows for more connections at Doha for those passengers continuing on to Asia and so on.
Because Berlin is ill-served by long distance flights (national airline Lufthansa has no long-haul service at all) travellers are accustomed to making en route plane changes in Europe or the Gulf.
Qatar Airways remains the only Gulf carrier to operate its own flights into Berlin.
What about the others?
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad relies on Air Berlin’s non-stop flights to feed its Gulf hub (Etihad holds a 29 per cent stake in Oneworld member Air Berlin).
But Emirates is conspicuous by its absence. Tim Clark, the carrier’s president, has gone on record numerous times expressing a wish to serve Berlin. But his airline is restricted under the terms of the air services agreement to serving a maximum of four German cities.
Emirates can serve Berlin but only on condition it drops flights to one of the existing cities (these are Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Dusseldorf) it serves. And this is something that Emirates is not prepared to do.
- Berlin’s Tegel and Schonefeld airports service a wide catchment area. Besides meeting the needs of Berliners, they also appeal to travellers based in the former East Germany cities of Leipzig, Dresden and Rostock. They also attract passengers from areas of Western Poland (some towns and cities here are nearer to Berlin than they are to Warsaw) which are linked (to Berlin’s airports) by regular mini-bus services.
Alex McWhirter
