Braniff

I had the pleasure of flying Qatar recently and in my discussions with fellow travellers, several mentioned they had specifically decided to travel withh Qatar as a show of support - and having experienced it would never switch back to the others. It came as quite a surprise to me that this was a motivating factor...

Braniff

plunet

I would imagine that they are all impacted to a greater or lesser extent. I doubt any of the regional airlines or their customers overall are winners from the blocade.

Downunderdesert

The biggest loser is QR as it lost a catchment of 5 destinations alone in the UAE. Then you take the airspace restrictions and it's a massive loss.

orbitmic

Indeed, I think that for QR, this has been a significant net loss rather than gain. if there is any 'political' procotting of the airline, I'm sure it is extremely anecdotal.

ajeleonard

Sounds like a bit of a stretch

Flame3601

I switched my usual European June/July migration on EK to QR purely due to finical reasons. No way am i going to pay borderline First class fares on EK for a 2-3-2 J product , when i can pay half the cost of EK's fares for QR J to the same destination. I know others have gone the same way as me as EK have really inflated their prices ex-South Africa to the point of overpricing it and turning would be customers ( even Plats like myself ) away to other airlines ... in this case QR.

I rate QR J better then EK J anyway

#1son

I too think QR J is better than EK J (which has become a bit too much like a "cattle call")

WorldLux

It's probably difficult to say. QR lost access to the UAE and SA, that fed into their flights ex DOH. I couldn't tell how many passenger QR actually transported between DOH and those markets but it's certainly not negligible: They had wide bodies flying on those routes and at some point considered setting up a subsidiary in SA.

Where QR definitely lost customers are the XXX-DXB/AUH markets. DXB/AUH attracts plenty of tourists in the fall/winter/spring months. Those won't be flying QR for the foreseeable time.

You could now argue that DOH could replace DXB but I would argue that apart from sharing the same climate DOH isn't a substitute for DXB in the minds of most tourists. Those that want disneyworld for grown ups will go to Dubai. Those seeking a bit less hassle will probably pick AUH or MCT.

Downunderdesert

exactly. The only tourists DOH used to see were Saudis. This place is a ghost town now.....empty hotels for months.

#1son

QR is getting hurt far more than EK or Etihad

some flight loads are lower on EK too, it is not just QR with the empty seats though

in Dubai some of the biggest real estate investors were from Qatar, so their are areas affected by the blockade that cut both ways

Downunderdesert

In addition to QR losing passengers, QR is losing management employees at a pretty rapid rate over the past few months, and not able to backfill.

IAN-UK

A perfectly silly premise.

For better or for worse, Qatar is the loser.

Guy Betsy

But because QR is part of OW, they will always attract those wanting status miles over either EK, EY or SV.

#1son

NOT ALWAYS, many frequent travelers have status with both both QR and EK (or EY)

Braniff

Just to be clear. This was not my premise. I had several people tell me this, and I found it quite surprising as well.