Qatar Airways currently has an aircraft shortage due to grounded Airbus A350s, so the airline is leasing planes from other airlines. Not only is Qatar Airways leasing Cathay Pacific 777s (which sadly are being primarily used for cargo flights), but the airline is now also leasing Oman Air A330s.
In this post:
Three Airbus A330-300s join Qatar Airways fleet
In the past couple of weeks, Qatar Airways has started leasing three of Oman Air’s six A330-300s. Qatar Airways is leasing the following three aircraft from Oman Air, all of which are roughly seven years old:
Qatar Airways is using these planes for select flights between Doha (DOH) and the following destinations:
- Colombo, Sri Lanka (CMB)
- Dhaka, Bangladesh (DAC)
- Tunis, Tunisia (TUN)
You can easily identify whether your flight is operated by this version of the A330 based on looking at the seatmap:
- Business class consists of 24 seats, spread across four rows in a 2-2-2 configuration, with rows 10, 11, 12, and 14 (row 13 is skipped)
- Economy class consists of 265 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration, and starts in row 20 and ends in row 53
These planes are being operated on a wet lease basis, meaning that the flights have Oman Air crews (including pilots and flight attendants). That being said, the catering and amenities should be the standard Qatar Airways offerings. It’s interesting to see this level of cooperation, as Oman Air is seeking Qatar Airways’ help to join the oneworld alliance.
What does this mean for the passenger experience?
It’s kind of cool to see Qatar Airways leasing Oman Air aircraft, as those are two of my favorite airline brands. While Qatar Airways’ Qsuites business class is spectacular, Oman Air has a pretty great business class product as well.
The Oman Air Airbus A330s being leased feature Apex Suites in business class, which are among my favorite business class seats out there.
Oman Air’s business class is significantly better than Qatar Airways’ own A330 business class, which has small footwells you have to place your feet in. Qatar Airways was planning on phasing out these planes, but given the A350 issues, they’re sticking around for now.
Bottom line
Qatar Airways is now leasing three Airbus A330s from Oman Air, which are being flown to three destinations. These planes have Apex Suites in business class, so this is arguably an upgrade in terms of the passenger experience, depending on which plane your flight would have otherwise been operated by.
As Qatar Airways grounds more and more A350s, it’s going to be interesting to see how the carrier is able to add capacity. The Doha-based airline is now flying both Cathay Pacific and Oman Air aircraft, though sadly the former are primarily operating on cargo routes.
What do you make of Qatar Airways leasing Oman Air A330s? Anyone have plans to take one of these flights?
Just finished a Qatar business class flight from Doha (DOH) to Kilimanjaro (JRO) that should have been on one of Qatar's Q-suite equipped planes, but was switched out last minute to an Oman Air A330. From a passenger perspective this was a very significant downgrade with ridiculously small overhead bins, dirty, hard, and uncomfortably narrow seats - very coffin-like. The seat control buttons and remote were horrible to operate, nothing seemed to be placed in...
Just finished a Qatar business class flight from Doha (DOH) to Kilimanjaro (JRO) that should have been on one of Qatar's Q-suite equipped planes, but was switched out last minute to an Oman Air A330. From a passenger perspective this was a very significant downgrade with ridiculously small overhead bins, dirty, hard, and uncomfortably narrow seats - very coffin-like. The seat control buttons and remote were horrible to operate, nothing seemed to be placed in a good position, and there was absolutely no place to put anything, the only flat surface being that of the tray table. Based on this experience I would never fly Oman Air (willingly) again and am thinking about breaking my alliance with OneWorld to fly Emirates on an upcoming trip. I don't want to risk having this happen again on a Qatar flight.
I just found out my flight to DAC is on one of these 333 aircraft....but, can't reserve a seat online in the QR website. Any advice on how to reserve my seat? Went to Oman Air's website but the PNR does not seem to be the same
I've flown on the Oman airliners 4 times and its just not what i expected it to be , the legroom is tiny and its hard to get some sleep in those seats my mother having problems too as she also struggled to sleep and just to remind you guys that our flight takes 6 hours not 2 or 3 , i would really be happy if Qatar brings back the Boeing 777x or maybe...
I've flown on the Oman airliners 4 times and its just not what i expected it to be , the legroom is tiny and its hard to get some sleep in those seats my mother having problems too as she also struggled to sleep and just to remind you guys that our flight takes 6 hours not 2 or 3 , i would really be happy if Qatar brings back the Boeing 777x or maybe the airbus a350-900 , its really not a comfy flight to be honest , but the flight crew is really friendly though they have good hospitality and good food as well , i don't see why QA would ground their long body airliners its really sad and it made mad when i heard about the suspension of these aircrafts.
I’ll be flying QR fur the 7 th year but they changed it to Oman Air from bey/Doha - considering upgrading to first as I just received the offer. Is it worth it for 3 1/2 hours? I’d rather upgrade to continued route to JFK from DOHA but no such luck so far. Any thoughts how to upgrade to business from DOHA to JFK? I usually foy Business but this was a spur of the moment ticket due to family emergencies. Thanks!
Flew Doha-Colombo last week, f&b is Qatar standard, business class seats are better than non Q suites. Cabin crew were really good, definitely felt they were keen to impress Qatar customers
Will i still accrue miles on the doha- colombo flight? I’m platinum on Iberia and I noticed that qatar have chsnged my booking and the Oman operated flight doesn’t have a Qr flight number. Also will I be able to go to the lounge in doha if my flight number is not a QR number
Can anyone comment on this? Will miles get credited to Asia miles if flying on Oman Air metal?
Rezwan, Oman Air operate 2 differently configured A330's. 3 have first, business and economy flying to Heathrow and Frankfurt, the ac Qatar are leasing only have business and economy. 2 2 2 in business and 2 4 2 in economy. 1 2 1 is first class
I'm flying Sunday CMB-DOH on WY A330, I'm with Rezwan Rashid, the aircraft seat map shows 1-2-1, Harsha - Can you enlighten us?
I flew Doha to cmb last week and the crew was from the oman airways..
Boarding now and they said the crew is Oman Air
Well Omans business is much better than QR’s on the same aircraft but all eyes are on the bigger picture - it’s the same as COVID? Where will this end
Absolutely.....
COVID won't end until more idiots like Dan Bongino are banned from YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook PERMANENTLY!! Dan is one Fox New's Biggest Dopes of a host for evading Covid misinformation suspension!! That will teach that Moron a lesson...... This guy had a Trump-sized Ego, and I'm sure a little weiner, that only got him into trouble. When will people learn?
I’ll be flying QR on DOH-CMB this Friday on one of the Oman A330s so I’ll try to report back as to who is crewing the plane.
How was it? I'll be doing this in March.
It is described internally as a wet lease.
Thanks for the update. Flight in March was switched to Oman A330 from Q suite and looking at Seatguru it looked like all the 330-300 were ancient tiltabeds. Happy to see the new interior so the flight should be OK.
Was unable to change to another flight as we are transiting to MLE as everyone switched to a direct flight (probably revenue passengers).
You have raved about Oman so hope the soft product is as good as QR.
Anyone have the Business seqtmap for these A330-300's? Seatguru has them with Rows 1-3 as First, then 10-14 as Business with a 1-2-1 configuration.
That Oman product looks very similar to Japan Airlines Sky suite.
We have a family vacation in December with a Qatar flight from SFO to SIN via DOH. The seat map for DOH to SIN shows the old 2 - 2- 2 configuration so it looks like Qatar aren't expecting the A350 issue to be resolved any time soon. Hopefully, a last-minute swap won't happen for the A350 flight from SFO to DOH. 15 hours in Q suite versus 15 hours in the old 777 will upset me :-)
IT WAS GREAT EXPERIENCE
I LOVE THE SERVICE
My QR flight next week to CMB is now operated by Oman Air. From the email they sent, it will also be operated by Oman Air crew. It’s a little bit of a downgrade for me since I was initially flying DOH-CMB in QSuites. But I’m glad to fly Oman Air Apex Suites again!
Not leasing Latam A350 this time?
Cathey is still used as belly cargo flights because there are many reasons behind it, very soon commence passenger operation with QR livery painting. Oman air on wet-lease operating with Oman crew.
Qatar switched my flight to Dhaka to this one. They state that they will be operated by Oman Air crews. I’ve got to say that I’m quite excited by the changes to the equipment as every leg has had an equipment change. I’ll be flying in BA First on a 777 rather than Business in the new 787-10 from Atlanta to London. Then QR First in the old A380 rather than a Q suite on the new A350 and now Oman Air instead of the older QR A330. A mess. But fun for a geek like me.
Hi Paul. How was it? I’m flying Doha to Dhaka in Qatar business, now Oman Air, next week.
Oman crew will be servicing them. Had a flight that was switched from DOH-CMB and that is what the email stated.
Hi it’s all wet lease !