Originally Posted by
Leaping_Deere
...You read that QR had made a loss and now celebrates by offering discount prices
Maybe they need some cash flow!
I think the kindest way to put it is they sort of made an
operating profit in previous years.
They'd started trying to increase fares while cutting back on their more lavish excesses, when they were hit by the "blockade" by all GCC states (except Oman & Kuwait) and Egypt. That cut off the healthy stream of revenue from connecting those states with the rest of the world through Doha, and from the gold dust of intra-Gulf services. Adding to the insult is the need to avoid the airspace of its neighbours, increasing flight time and the costs that entails, and the conundrum of what to do with aircraft made surplus to (rational) requirements.
With no end in sight to the blockade the airline is in a spiral of sales to generate demand (good news for us), and the opening of curious routes to soak up surplus airframes (good news for Cardiff!).
More good news is that the airline simply can't be allowed to fail: it is now absolutely essential to the socio-economic-political well-being of Qatar. But there has to be a question about how long it will be able, or allowed, to continue in its current form.
I'm sure my NZ-springtime visit using this great fare is safe enough. Better than the last time i tried to get there with QR, when they cancelled the flight
.