Is Qatar Airways Safe?

[Scr77]

I considered Qatar Airways to be as safe as any Middle Eastern airline when I booked J reward seats from europe to Singapore for later this year. I have just come across this article and don't have any intimate knowledge of the Middle East. Should I be more concerned than if we were flying Emrates for example?

Arab nations Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates cut diplomatic ties to Qatar - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[moa999]

Think the airlines fine, just oil country politics

 

[Must...Fly!]

Think the airlines fine, just oil country politics

You could spend your whole lifetime (in fact, many life times) learning about the history of the arab peoples...but yes I personally would regard them as safe.

 

[RooFlyer]

Being discussed on another thread. Why would the diplomatic actions of a country like Saudi Arabia - that paragon of virtue - call into question the safety of Qatar Airlines? Do you think the Saudis will be shooting at them?

 

[Scr77]

?...... Do you think the Saudis will be shooting at them?

Smiles. No, but it makes be wonder if there are underlying terrorist threats that I had not considered before booking. For example, would we be safer on Emirates?

 

[oh_lol]

No issues at all. Go ahead and enjoy your flights in J.

This has happened before and there was no issues. The surrounding countries are just trying to bully Qatar re politics.
At worse your flight will probably be longer because of airspace.

 

[jaybeedee]

Like the OP, I have J rewards flights involving Qatar. I am not too worried about the physical danger - more about what happens with the disruption , as we are flying Qatar from Copenhagen to Sharjah, and then from Sharjah to Auckland (both via Doha).

What happens to our flights if the UAE stop QR flights into the emirates? They are booked as part of a 280K Oneworld trip with the first (QF) sectors starting this Saturday. What happens with disruption to a Oneworld booking once it has started?

 

[drron]

Though if they really enforce the airspace ban QR is toast.

.

Included in this discussion of the ramifications-
https://centreforaviation.com/insig...middle-east-damages-key-source-markets-348493

 

[Pushka]

Like the OP, I have J rewards flights involving Qatar. I am not too worried about the physical danger - more about what happens with the disruption , as we are flying Qatar from Copenhagen to Sharjah, and then from Sharjah to Auckland (both via Doha).

What happens to our flights if the UAE stop QR flights into the emirates? They are booked as part of a 280K Oneworld trip with the first (QF) sectors starting this Saturday. What happens with disruption to a Oneworld booking once it has started?

Call Qantas immediately. UAE is involved. I had award booking in 3 weeks time involving Dubai-Doha on Qatar. I called last night - first call the operator knew nothing about any of it. Then someone called me back and apologised but they hadn't been notified yet. I rang a couple of hours later as I'd found a routing Dubai direct to Stockholm not transiting through Doha. They would only give me what was available as an award booking which downgraded me from J to y on a 6 hour flight but at least we will get there now but have to spend a night in Dubai and one less in Stockholm which is a bummer.

 

[NZflygirl]

Qatar have a young fleet of aircraft. I've watched some videos with their CEO and he appears VERY pedantic, even over the smallest things. That guy wants the best for the airline. I think they have better hard and soft products than Emirates and are better run with a nicer airport to transit than Etihad's Abu Dhabi.

I wouldn't hesitate to fly them and in fact would aim for them.

Just my opinion.

 

[JohnPhelan]

Safety issue with QR? No. Possible flight disruption issue? Yes. Especially, if as drron says above, the surrounding countries really enforce the no-fly approach - QR won't be able to go anywhere!

There has long been suspicion/rumour that Qatar has been quietly providing money to terrorist-related groups. I have no idea if that's true, but that's what the other Arab nations are claiming.

The other thing that you hear about QR is some of its staff "welfare" practices, which would be the most restrictive of any of the ME3 airlines.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The concern I have about QR safety-wise is the commercial director - who came over from Malaysia Airlines. He stated (since the MH downing in Ukraine) that airlines should not have to be concerned with the safety of where they fly, but that they should only have to focus on the quality of their on-board product:
Airline companies must demand safe skies, says MH17 operator - Telegraph

I would like to think that lessons have been learned, but subsequent statements to the above article have not indicated such.

 

[burmans]

There has long been suspicion/rumour that Qatar has been quietly providing money to terrorist-related groups. I have no idea if that's true, but that's what the other Arab nations are claiming.

Given those nations include Saudi Arabia and Libya, both of whom have been accused on sponsoring terrorism themselves isn't this the pot calling the kettle black? Add in Egypt, hardly regarded as the paragon of good behaviour in recent times.

 

[alieninperth]

Given those nations include Saudi Arabia and Libya, both of whom have been accused on sponsoring terrorism themselves isn't this the pot calling the kettle black? Add in Egypt, hardly regarded as the paragon of good behaviour in recent times.

Exactly,

I see this more as a rather crude attempt to politically isolate Qatar, given its closeness with Iran. I'm not a total tin foil addict but it is interesting that this has happened as there are increasing calls on the UK government to release a report that supposedly paints a very close relationship between Saudi Arabia and ISIS.

 

[jb747]

Qatar have a young fleet of aircraft. I've watched some videos with their CEO and he appears VERY pedantic, even over the smallest things. That guy wants the best for the airline. I think they have better hard and soft products than Emirates and are better run with a nicer airport to transit than Etihad's Abu Dhabi.

I wouldn't hesitate to fly them and in fact would aim for them.

To be honest, what I've seen of him is singularly unimpressive. Particularly after this event Accident: Qatar B773 at Miami on Sep 15th 2015, overran runway on takeoff run and struck approach lights on departure

 

[whatmeworry]

Qatar have a young fleet of aircraft. I've watched some videos with their CEO and he appears VERY pedantic, even over the smallest things. That guy wants the best for the airline. I think they have better hard and soft products than Emirates and are better run with a nicer airport to transit than Etihad's Abu Dhabi.

I wouldn't hesitate to fly them and in fact would aim for them.

Just my opinion.

You sure about their hard product?

[video=youtube;e62BSHIwT7c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e62BSHIwT7c[/video]

 

[NZflygirl]

To be honest, what I've seen of him is singularly unimpressive. Particularly after this event Accident: Qatar B773 at Miami on Sep 15th 2015, overran runway on takeoff run and struck approach lights on departure

I read a bit about his response apparently trying to brush it off and say it happens all the time which I think was just him trying to save face, a tactic many companies would employ if the need arose. I don't think he actually believed everything was ok given he reportedly fired the pilots involved. If you look at the history of the airline he has done an amazing job of taking them forward.

This is one of my favourite interviews

[video=youtube_share;QXc94TgaTlY]https://youtu.be/QXc94TgaTlY?t=1s[/video]

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If you look at the history of the airline he has done an amazing job of taking them forward.

No doubt he has achieved great things for the airline. But the outward doesn't necessarily reflect what's going on behind the scenes. Air Asia has achieved great growth. So have Chinese LCCs. And USA regional affiliates. Doesn't mean all the pilots are of equal quality.

And the appointment of the commercial director from MH?

 

[NZflygirl]

You sure about their hard product?

EK doesn't fly the narrow body. EY's narrow body J looks slightly better for the regional product but it still doesn't hold a candle to QR's A320 J (refurb?) lie flat product. This isn't my video but I was lucky enough to fly this DOH-BUD. Knocked me for a 6!! So unexpected for a single aisle aircraft.

[video=youtube_share;1h6PhqlucHI]https://youtu.be/1h6PhqlucHI?t=1s[/video]

QR does have a wide variety of aircraft so yeah you will need to do some homework prior to flying. In your video example it said EK flew the 777 on that route. I like wide bodies as I feel they weather turbulence better so I may well choose that over QR on that particular route. I'd choose QR's A350, 787 J over EK's 777 J which I think is a fairer comparison than wide body to narrow body aircraft.

No one actually has to choose just one airline so it's all a bit hypothetical but I'm just saying I rate QR highly and have a preference for them. I don't have any safety concerns flying them and I love what they bring to the market.

This does not preclude me from trying out F on EY's A380 one day .

 

[RooFlyer]

You sure about their hard product?

<video snipped>

I can't see the airline being too displeased about that review, given that they have these planes in their fleet and have to use them. A couple of the relevant words were "daytime flight".