Qatar Airways Resumes Canberra-Doha Flights

Qatar Airways will add a second daily service between Doha and Melbourne from 1 October 2022, with the service continuing from Melbourne to Canberra.

The daily Canberra-Melbourne-Doha flights will be operated by Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777-300ER with Qsuites in Business Class. This will be the schedule:

• QR989 Canberra 14:30 – Melbourne 15:45 / Melbourne 17:15 – Doha 23:50
• QR988 Doha 01:30 – Melbourne 23:05 / Melbourne 00:35 – Canberra 01:50 (next day)

Prior to the pandemic, Qatar Airways operated daily Canberra-Sydney-Doha services. This route was scrapped in 2020.

Under the air services agreement between Australia and Qatar, the number of services that Qatar Airways may operate into Australia’s four largest international airports (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth) is limited to 28 flights per week. Qatar Airways currently has daily flights to all four of these airports, so has reached this cap.

However, flights that connect onwards to other Australian airports are not counted under this cap. By adding the domestic tag flight from Melbourne to Canberra, Qatar Airways is able to add a second daily service to Melbourne while also adding Canberra back to its extensive route map.

Unfortunately, it won’t be possible just to book a seat on the Canberra-Melbourne leg of this service. Passengers travelling on Qatar Airways between Canberra and Melbourne would need to be booked from Melbourne-Doha on the same ticket. (This is different to Qatar Airways’ international tag flight from Adelaide to Auckland, which is available to book as a standalone journey.)

First regular international flights to Canberra since 2020

Prior to the pandemic, both Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways operated daily international flights to Canberra. Singapore Airlines used to operate a “triangle service” from Singapore-Sydney-Canberra-Singapore as SQ288.

Approached by Australian Frequent Flyer, a Singapore Airlines spokesperson advised that they had nothing to announce at this time regarding the resumption of services to Canberra.

Since 2021, Rex has been using the international departures area at Canberra Airport as a temporary lounge. The launch of Qatar Airways services will likely see Rex kicked out of this part of the airport. It’s not clear whether Rex still intends to open a new lounge in another part of the airport, particularly as it has now axed its Canberra-Sydney route.

Qatar Airways award availability

Tickets on Qatar Airways’ new daily Canberra-Melbourne-Doha service are now on sale, and there are even up to two Business Class award seats available per flight!

As of yesterday, award availability on QR988 and QR989 was relatively wide open (with onward connections available to/from Europe). You can book a seat using Qantas Frequent Flyer points or miles with any other Oneworld airline.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: QR returning to CBR

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.