Qatar Airways Plans Another Upgrade to Popular New York Route

Qatar Airways has announced that its top North American destination will be receiving yet another service upgrade as New York will be the recipient of second daily Airbus A350-1000 XWB service. The changeover will take place March 31, the beginning of the summer season for the International Air Transport Association, just months after New York saw its first regularly scheduled A350-1000 XWB service in October 2018, only the second American destination for the aircraft.

Currently, New York receives two daily flights from Qatar’s Doha hub, a morning flight and an evening flight, making it the only Qatar destination in the U.S. to receive twice-daily service from the airline. However, the morning flight is currently operated by the A350-900 XWB, the smaller brother to the dash 1000. With the morning flight now being operated by the A350-1000s, New York will see a double dose of Qatar’s newest aircraft.

Qatar’s new Airbus A350-900 (A7-ALO) at the gate at JFK (AirlineGeeks | Craig Fischer)

When Qatar started using its newly acquired A350-1000s in October, New York became the first North American city to see service from both the A350-900 and A350-1000, both operated by Qatar Airways. Now, JFK Airport will be the only American airport to receive two daily A350-1000s. New York has always been the recipient of Qatar’s latest aircraft, as it was one of the first destinations for the airline’s Boeing 777-300ER and A350-900 XWB aircraft when they were both first delivered.

The biggest advantage for passengers flying on the A350-1000 XWB over the dash 900 is the Qsuites in business class. Thanks to its longer fuselage, the A350-1000 features 46 Qsuites, 10 more than the dash 900 and a huge advantage for premium cabin travelers. While there are some A350-900s operating with Qsuites, they are standard on the A350-1000.

The QSuite onboard the airline’s A350-1000 (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Fabian Behr)

In economy class, there will be 34 additional seats than the A350-900 in the standard 3-3-3 configuration, increasing capacity in both cabins. Overall, capacity on the New York-Doha route is being increased by 44 seats, making up for the slight loss when the Boeing 777-300ER replaced with the A350-1000.

Economy class on Qatar’s Airbus A350-1000 XWB (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Tom Pallini)

“These advances signify Qatar Airways’ commitment to constantly growing and developing our U.S. gateways, ensuring unprecedented levels of comfort and service every time our passengers travel,” said Senior Vice President, Americas Eric Odone in a press release. “We are confident our passengers will enjoy the A350-1000 flights, and we look forward to bringing them to even more gateways across the U.S.”

The announcement comes just a week after Qatar decided to upgrade the Doha to Dallas route, an important connection for the oil industry, from the Boeing 777-300ER to the A350-1000 XWB for summer 2019. With this latest announcement, it’s clear that Qatar is leading the charge for the A350-1000 XWB expansion to the U.S.

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Thomas Pallini

Tom has been flying for as long as he can remember. His first flight memory was on a Song Airlines 757 flying from LaGuardia to Orlando. Back then, he was afraid to fly because he thought you needed to jump off the plane in order to get off. Some years later, Tom is now a seasoned traveler, often flying to places just for the fun of it. Most of the time, he'll never leave the airport on his trips. If he's not at home or at work as a Line Service Technician at Long Island MacArthur Airport, he's off flying somewhere, but only for the day.

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