Qatar Airways will soon introduce a "high-density" two-class A340-600 on its Doha-Kuala Lumpur route.
The Gulf airline's website already displays this 372-seat version as operating daily flights QR846 and QR847 from early July. To view a seatplan, click here.
The carrier's fleet already consists of four A340-600s which should have been retired by now, even though they are still young by global standards, as Qatar takes delivery of new aircraft.
Now it appears a decision has been taken to keep them in service for longer but configured for two classes instead of three.
Currently, Qatar's A340-600s are configured with a maximum of 310 passengers — eight passengers in first, 42 in business and 260 in economy.
The higher-density option will accommodate just 24 in business, but a higher number of passengers, 348, in economy.
It is currently unclear whether economy class will remain eight-across (2-4-2) or become a tighter nine-across (3-3-3).
This change will allow Qatar Airways to carry an extra 100 passengers on the A340-600, compared with the smaller twin-engine A330 (24 business and 236 economy seats) that it currently operates.
Qatar Airways currently flies three times daily between Doha and Kuala Lumpur with the other two services operated either by an A330 or a larger B777-300ER.
Flights QR846 and QR847 are main feeder flights at Doha for Qatar Airways’ numerous services both from and to Europe.
Schedules for these flights are:
- QR846 depart Doha 0110, arrive Kuala Lumpur 1410
- QR847 depart Kuala Lumpur 2050, arrive Doha 2320
Qatar Airways will be the first carrier to operate this particular A340-600 configuration, and it means yet more competition for troubled Malaysian Airlines.
Alex McWhirter
