The Doha-based carrier now flies to five airports across the UK, operating up to 14 daily flights.
Qatar Airways has resumed services between Doha and Birmingham, UK. The airline's first flight in over three years touched down at Birmingham Airport (BHX) earlier today at 13:15, six and a half hours after leaving Hamad International Airport (DOH).
The daily flights are operated by the carrier's Boeing 787-8 aircraft. According to data from ch-aviation.com, Qatar Airways currently has 30 787-8s in its fleet, with an average age of nine years old, and each seating a total of 254 passengers in a two-class configuration – 22 in business class and 232 in economy class.
The aircraft operating today's inaugural flight was registered as A7-BCP. This particular Boeing 787 joined the airline in October 2014, and its route can be seen on FlightRadar24.com:
When the airline announced the presumption of services earlier this year, Birmingham Airport's Chief Executive Officer, Nick Barton, said,
“We are very pleased to welcome back Qatar Airways. Connectivity from Birmingham Airport to the Middle East, and onwards via their large network, is something our customers have missed. Birmingham Airport is the global gateway to the West Midlands region, an economic powerhouse on a strong trajectory of growth, which will be further buoyed by the presence of Qatar Airways.”
Earlier this year, Qatar Airways became the official airline sponsor of Formula One, taking over from Emirates. It therefore makes sense that the carrier's services to Birmingham have restarted just days before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, which is located around 60 miles from Birmingham Airport.
Formula One legend David Coulthard was on hand to help with the celebrations at Birmingham Airport today, and Qatar Airways later took to Twitter to celebrate the festivities:
Birmingham has become Qatar Airways' fifth destination in the UK, with the airline already flying to London Heathrow (LHR), Manchester (MAN), London Gatwick (LGW), and Edinburgh (EDI). Data from Cirium shows that throughout July, the airline will operate a total of 439 flights in each direction between Doha and the UK. This equates to over 145,000 seats, with flights operated by the following aircraft:
Qatar Airways is not the only carrier from the Middle East to start flying to Birmingham this month. On July 2nd, the Saudi Arabian flag carrier, Saudia, commenced three weekly flights to Jeddah (JEH), deploying its Boeing 787 on the route. The airport also welcomed back Emirates' Airbus A380 on July 1st, for the first time in over three years.
What do you think of Qatar Airways' resumption of flights to Birmingham? Will you be flying on the route? Let us know by commenting below.
Sources: Cirium, ch-aviation.com, FlightRadar24.com
Journalist – Steven has a varied background in communications, and it was this passion for writing combined with his in-depth knowledge of the aviation industry that led him to Simple Flying. A keen linguist, he also has experience in translation and interpreting. Based in Palma, Spain