Hello from Doha! My dad and I are taking a quick round the world trip (he doesn’t know where we’re going). After flying Etihad’s Boeing 787 first class from Washington to Abu Dhabi, we made the short hop to Doha in Qatar Airways’ Boeing 737 MAX first class (really business class, but on short haul flights it’s marketed as first class).
I was excited about this flight, not only because Qatar Airways offers the world’s best premium short haul experience, but also because this flight was operated by an aircraft that’s brand new to Qatar Airways’ fleet. Prior to my flight, I hadn’t yet seen any reports of what the interiors of these planes are like, so I’m happy to report back with that! First some background…
In this post:
Qatar Airways picked up nine Boeing 737 MAX 8s
Qatar Airways recently picked up nine Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, in order to be able to increase short haul capacity. This wasn’t initially part of Qatar Airways’ long term fleet strategy, but the airline saw an opportunity.
Specifically, these planes were intended for Russia’s S7 Airlines. However, due to sanctions in place, Boeing isn’t able to deliver these planes to a Russian carrier, so these planes became available, and Qatar Airways seized the opportunity.
For context, this is only a very small part of Qatar Airways’ narrow body fleet renewal plan:
- Qatar Airways has 50 Airbus A321neos on order, which will be delivered starting in 2026
- Qatar Airways has 25 Boeing 737 MAX 10s on order, which will be delivered starting in 2025
While you can expect that the A321neos and 737 MAX 10s will feature signature Qatar Airways interiors, the priority with the 737 MAX 8s was getting the planes into service as quickly as possible. They just started operating passenger flights as of May 2023.
Qatar Airways’ Boeing 737 MAX 8 interiors
While Qatar Airways is planning on eventually introducing what I’m sure will be an industry-leading interior on its narrow body jets, the airline is taking a different approach with these 737 MAX 8s.
These planes already had interiors installed for S7 Airlines, so Qatar Airways has essentially just updated the cabin finishes to better reflect the carrier’s branding, but the airline isn’t otherwise introducing its premium product on these planes, at least for now.
It’s worth noting that Qatar Airways seems to intentionally be using these planes on very short flights, typically under an hour in length.
Qatar Airways’ Boeing 737 MAX 8s feature a total of 176 seats, including eight business class seats (marketed as first class on many flights within the Gulf), and 168 economy class seats. Let’s take a look at the interiors.
Qatar Airways’ Boeing 737 MAX business class
Qatar Airways’ 737 MAX business class cabin consists of just eight seats, spread two rows in a 2-2 configuration. These planes have the same seats you’ll find in premium cabins on everything from American Airlines to Bamboo Airways, except with Qatar Airways’ colors.
The legroom is quite good, there are footrests, and there are power ports at each seat.
There isn’t Wi-Fi on these 737 MAX 8s, though Qatar Airways distributes iPads in business class. I couldn’t help but laugh at how over-the-top that is for a flight that’s not even 40 minutes long. Why yes, I’d love to watch a movie while also enjoying the nonstop service on these short flights.
Unfortunately these planes have Boeing’s new standard 737 MAX bathrooms, which are awful. I don’t know what Boeing was thinking with these lavs, but they’re tiny, and the sink in particular is too small. But at least on Qatar Airways it’s kept spotlessly clean, and you get Diptyque toiletries.
The only other thing that made the premium cabin experience different is that there isn’t an espresso machine onboard these planes, so you can’t enjoy an espresso or cappuccino. Hardly a big problem on a 200-mile flight at 2AM!
Qatar Airways’ Boeing 737 MAX economy class
Qatar Airways’ 737 MAX economy class cabin consists of 168 seats, spread 28 rows in a 3-3 configuration. These seats are also the same that you’ll find in American Airlines economy. There are power outlets at each seat, as well as personal device holders.
Qatar Airways’ phenomenal soft product
While I’ll have a full review soon, Qatar Airways’ short haul first class soft product is just out of this world, the best of any airline, in my opinion. The flight was in the air for less than 40 minutes, and it was at 2AM. Despite that, there were pre-departure drinks of choice, Arabic coffee and dates, menus, towels, a meal, time for a coffee service, and more.
Then if you arrive at a remote stand, there’s even a separate first class bus to the terminal. It didn’t hurt that we had the cabin to ourselves!
Bottom line
I’m happy I had the chance to fly Qatar Airways’ intriguing new Boeing 737 MAX. The airline is taking delivery of nine of these jets in the coming months, and admittedly they’re intended as a temporary solution for adding capacity. These planes were supposed to go to S7 Airlines, but due to Russian sanctions, Boeing could no longer sell these planes to the airline. As a result, Qatar Airways opportunistically picked them up.
These jets are perfectly pleasant, though I’m sure Qatar Airways’ upcoming narrow body aircraft (the A321neo and 737 MAX 10) will impress a lot more.
What do you make of Qatar Airways’ Boeing 737 MAXs?
Astonished that more people are not refusing to book/fly on the 737 MAX series. You know the story - Boeing shoe horned large diameter engines onto an air-frame not designed for them and killed a couple of hundred people debugging their MCAS system (necessary to compensate for the flawed design) and figuring out that they should not offer reduced redundancy AoA configurations with such a critically important sub-system depending on the data. It's a no-brainer...
Astonished that more people are not refusing to book/fly on the 737 MAX series. You know the story - Boeing shoe horned large diameter engines onto an air-frame not designed for them and killed a couple of hundred people debugging their MCAS system (necessary to compensate for the flawed design) and figuring out that they should not offer reduced redundancy AoA configurations with such a critically important sub-system depending on the data. It's a no-brainer to give these fundamentally flawed air-frames a very wide swerve. They may actually be sufficiently safe enough now (thank you from Boeing to those dead Ethiopians and Indonesians), but the industry practices that allowed this situation to evolve unchecked need to be ended permanently. There has not been a sufficiently principled stand on this point imho.
It is called "Arabian" coffee because it is indigenous to the Arabian peninsula and not found in in the rest of the Arab world. While "Arabic" bread is correct because it is found in other Arab countries.
They looked small I was wondering what that was maybe an a220 but I was on an a350 hovering above it taxiing out in DOH today. The mint lemonade is too sweet. Have you had the walkers shortbread fruit and lemon ? They are better than the ginger ones. Also the eau de toillete in amenity kit is a nice summer smell. A .33 oz bottle you can get 75-100 sprays out of that.
The bathrooms on the Max are truly awful.
These pics are why qatar is so hush about not revealing any photos of the cabin.
Fly Dubai / tk / sq max interior looks way better
the seats are roughly the same but look weaker than TK in matters like ife.
I have taken two short-haul QR flights first class (business class actually), DOH-Amman and DOH-Riaydh - phenomenal experience. And since I was flying first class, I got to spend 4-5 hours at the Al Sfawa first class lounge in Doha.
These buses are great, but too extravagant to be honest esp. when I compare it with my first class experience in the US, after my AA trips. If there are more than 6 passengers, they send a second bus.
My Guess is you are checking out the new QR lounge then heading to Perth in QR F!
Now the 2x Avios Qatar redemption article the other day makes more sense.
10 hours on First Class on the a380 should be nice!
It looks like that bus only has 6 seats - it would be amusing if there was a full cabin and two "first class" passengers had to stand...but maybe there are more seats behind the camera, haha
They have 4-5 buses if there would be more first-class passengers.
You have said time and again that QR has the best short-haul business class in the world. Can you make a comparison of such airlines and where doesSQ stand?
This route will be equivalent of SIN-KUL distance wise. SQ provides no menu, limited drink choices, and a cold sandwich on this route. So that makes QR more superior, albeit being sold as “First Class”.
Of course SQ is going to fall short there: I got only a cup of apple juice on a SIN–KUL flight. I’m not asking who can do 40-minute flights better; I’m talking about the overall A320/737 product of these carriers, and there SQ’s 737 MAX is I suppose one of the best. I bet TK will be right up there too.
Obv written by a Qater fanboy. Those seats are a far cry from SQ’s 737 max offerings.
Hideous colors, but still decent arrangement for such a short op.
Do you feel safe in a max???
Trolling, much?
Absolutely! And it’s a better and quieter aircraft.
Great review, as always, and thanks for sharing.
You write: The only other thing that made the premium cabin experience different is that there’s an espresso machine onboard these planes, so you can’t enjoy an espresso or cappuccino. Hardly a big problem on a 200-mile flight at 2AM!
Did you mean to say "there isnt" an espresso machine? The way it's written indicates there IS an espresso machine.
@ Jason -- Correct, my mistake. Fixing now... thanks!
Sure thing! Great review - looking forward to seeing the rest. Enjoy your trip!
Ben writing this post with no access to a coffee machine: