Qatar Airlines coming to...Boston?
 

"After Chicago, we are going to start operating three more destinations," Al Baker said. "This will be Atlanta, Detroit and Boston."

Wow!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayi...s-ceo/1655711/

Why Detroit, I wonder... is it the car manufacturers who are making LPG deals? I suppose Detroit is a hub, but...

Still no DFW?

I think there is a decent sized middle eastern population in Detroit. RJ also has a flight to Detroit.

Fair point...

Once QR joins OW, I would think AA would fly from DFW.

Since ETHIHAD is joining SKYTEAM would have more sense for them to start from DTW and ATL.Maybe they will still do from Deltas 2 big hubs.

I have heard of some codeshares between AF and EY but nothing about skyteam. Do you have a link ?

I think this is terrific. Boston has no direct flights to the middle east and just recently added its first to asia on JAL.

I'd like to see who actually rolls the dice first between QR, EK, and TK - all who have hinted at BOS.

QR - has the right plane (787) to compete with and future OW loyalty.

EK - has the partnership with B6 and the most destinations especially secondary Indian Subcontinent.

TK - has *A loyalty and has the most O&D (~ 30,000 passengers in 2011 ~ 40 PDEW) which would be stimulated by a BOS-IST flight and is better for middle east traffic flows.

There is 15 transatlantic flights a day that one of these carriers would have to compete with but all three have the ability to work (either codeshare or just interline) with B6 too which would help.

I had heard of Turkish and Qatar considering BOS, but not EK. I think any of the three would pick up a lot of business especially for onward connections to the region. With Healthcare, IT, Business, Education and other areas of work, I think any of them would do well.

"Considering"?? I thought Qatar WILL fly to BOS starting sometime next year.

Why do you think that?

If you are referring to your original post, treating al Baker's statements of intention as fact is not a good idea.

The fact is, Boston is a small town.

"Small town" with tons of high tech research, an Indian Subcontinent population that doubled between 2000-2010, and PDEW of 250+ to the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia easily served by QR.

A good link to see growth of BOS-Indian Subcontinent traffic from 2003-2011 is here: http://www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/aviation

Al Baker did say "will" but I'm wondering if "will" becoming "scheduled" depends on two things: 787 deliveries and the opening of New Doha International Airport.

He also said