In June 2016, Qatar Airways first announced their intent to begin flying between Doha and Las Vegas, which seems like a rather random route. It’s especially surprising when you consider that Qatar Airways doesn’t even fly to San Francisco, which you’d think would be a much bigger market.
Continue reading: Official: Qatar Airways Adding Doha To Las Vegas Flights In 2018
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Interesting, but I think I'll pass. With both endpoints of this route located in the desert, it's only a matter of time til sand gets in the cabin. Anyone who's ever been to the beach knows that stuff is impossible to get out.
I bet half the Qataris I work with will be on this! Most of them visit Vegas when they fly to LA.
Out of interest regarding the summer temperatures which could affect takeoffs, I wonder how Vegas differs to the summers in Doha?
What will happen in the summer when the temps are high, well the 772 have the power to get off the ground?
Do you seriously think that Qatar Airways don't know how to handle heat. Do you think that the Las Vegas sun is going to be worse then the 50°C felt in Doha in the summer.
As Vegas increased in popularity I could see this route being popular among Middle Eastern/South Asian travelers looking to visit Vegas. That said, the Vegas market is pretty much full of low yield travelers, no?
While I'm sure Qatar has a great J product, is their Y product any better to warrant a premium price? Why would someone fly from Cairo, Riyadh, Muscat, Beirut, Delhi, Mumbai, when other 1 stop route are available via Dubai, London, Paris, etc...
This doesnt even look like the most high end J product they offer so why would a rich oil baron fly this over Emirates F?
@Alex - what are you talking about? Y on any and all ME3 carriers is bargain basement pricing. They do NOT in any market command a premium in Y. Do you really think that $800 roiundtrip Y fares in Y from the USA to India are premium fares? No. Not even close. UA gets higher fares - p[remium Y fares - from NYC to BOM and DEL because it's nonstop. THAT'S how they get the premium. People will fly QR to LAS because it'll be CHEAP in the back. that's it. None of the ME3 can command a premium on any route they fly, that's the biggest myth out there.
Rich oil barons will fly their own private jets, not QR, when they go to vegas, if they do.
I could see it working with Chinese or South Asian tourists traveling XXX-DOH-LAS. Though I agree, that's probably going to be mostly low yield package tour type of pax.
I think you'll see this market, as small as it may be today, grow substantially. Not to mention the premium revenues that Vegas would probably see out of the region. Besides, this is more about India to Las Vegas than anything else which makes sense when you look at the growing businesses and tech around Southern Nevada.
I agree with you Lucky--LAS over SFO?! Strange indeed. Like you, I think they'd do well by coming to the Bay Area. If Al Baker had any sense, he should announce the launch of service between SFO-DOH on the 777-300ER and market the hell out of it to the large ex-pat Punjabi community in the greater Bay Area. They would no doubt jump at the chance to be able to fly straight to their homeland by landing in Amritsar (ATQ) which Qatar Airways exclusively serves amongst the big Middle East carriers. True, you can get there from SFO via Air India but then you're flying Air India, sooooooooo....LOL!
Or as an alternative, he should think about putting a 787-9 to fly from San Jose (SJC), which has seen some nice international expansion of late, to DOH. That way you directly capture the Silicon Valley crowd and don't have to worry about competing against Ethiad or Emirates since neither of them currently fly from there.
Just my two cents...your thoughts?
Tony, the temperature issues at Vegas are not dissimilar to those at Doha.
Presumably that is why they are using a 777-200ER although i am baffled by the claim that there are some routes where that is the only plane that can do it. Really?
Samuel, I can think of two reasons to prefer LAS to SFO.
1) Asia is obsessed with gambling and there might be significant demand for a one-stop route to LAS.
2) LAS is better for onward connections than SFO because of its more central location
Emirates and Ethihad already fly to SFO