I’m not sure what exactly is going on here, so we’ll mark this as “developing” for now. Regardless, this feels like a very un-Qatar Airways move…
In this post:
Qatar Airways has lots of Airbus A321neos on order
Qatar Airways has quite the narrow body fleet renewal and expansion planned, as the airline has a total of 50 Airbus A321-family aircraft on order. This includes an order for 40 A321neos and 10 A321LRs (they’re the same planes, just with different range).
The idea is that this will open up all kinds of new markets for the airline, especially as the carrier is reportedly planning a premium experience on these planes, including business class suites with doors (something along the lines of Qsuites).
As many people may remember, there has been quite a bit of drama when it comes to these planes entering service. By now, Qatar Airways was already supposed to have a large number of these Airbus planes in its fleet. However, due to the dispute between Airbus and Qatar Airways several years back (under former CEO Akbar Al Baker), Airbus canceled this order.
Qatar Airways even went so far as to order Boeing 737 MAXs instead. However, the two companies then made up, and Qatar Airways ended up canceling its Boeing 737 MAX order, as its Airbus A321neo order was reinstated. However, the airline lost its original delivery slots, so is getting these planes much later than initially planned.
Last I heard, Qatar Airways was supposed to take delivery of its first A321neo in 2026, though that timeline seems to have moved forward… but not in the way I would have expected.
Qatar Airways will start flying mono-class A321neos shortly
AeroRoutes reports that Qatar Airways plans to commence Airbus A321neo operations in the coming weeks. Specifically, as of October 2025, the airline will start putting these planes into service. Initially, they’ll fly from Doha (DOH) to Madinah (MED), Multan (MUX), Peshawar (PEW), Sharjah (SHJ), Sialkot (SKT), and Tbilisi (TBS).
Here’s what makes this strange, though. The A321neos that are scheduled are in a 236-seat layout, with no premium cabin. Not only is this an all-economy layout, but these are some really tight cabins. Just for context, Wizz Air has 239 seats on its A321neos, while Transavia has 232 seats on its A321neos. So Qatar Airways has more seats on these planes that some ultra low cost carriers, which have 28-29″ of pitch.
I’m curious what’s going on here, especially given the timeline:
- Did Qatar Airways opportunistically acquire secondhand Airbus A321neos from some ultra low cost carriers, and the airline is using these to boost capacity?
- Are the new business class seats not ready yet, so the airline will initially fly these in a one-cabin layout?
Given the number of seats being crammed in here (even for an all-economy layout), I can’t help but think that these planes don’t even have seat back TVs, and are likely pretty bare bones.
Ultimately I’m surprised to see Qatar Airways operating flights in a configuration like this. Sure, not all routes have the same amount of premium demand, but most routes have at least some premium demand, and Qatar Airways wants to be able to compete for those passengers.
Oman Air has a similar concept now, flying all-economy 737s, under its Oman Air Connect brand. Meanwhile Emirates and Etihad don’t have this directly, though Dubai-based FlyDubai has some all-economy 737s, while Etihad joint venture partner Air Arabia Abu Dhabi also has an all-economy fleet.
I’m trying to figure out what’s going on here, and I’ll report back if I figure anything out…
Bottom line
In the coming weeks, Qatar Airways will operate its first Airbus A321neo flights. That’s sooner than we were expecting, but it also sounds like these won’t be the special A321neos we’ve been anticipating. Instead, they’ll be in an all-economy layout, with a cabin density that rivals ultra low cost carriers. We’ll see how this plays out.
Anyone know what’s going on with this Qatar Airways A321neo development?
Given the routes mentioned above, i wouldn't be surprised if QR maintained a subfleet of these high density all economy A321neos.
At most they could add a single row of recliners at the front and continue serving the routes with very little premium demand.
Why the kerfuffle over QR's tight all-economy plane?! Just because Qatar Airways is a premium airline doesn't mean all its destinations are glitzy and glamorous places stuffed full of premium pax. I've been to a few of these for places for business (Multan, Sialkot and Tbilisi). The demand is overwhelmingly for economy, economy, and (can I say it?) ECONOMY! QR is doing the smart thing by 'fitting' the right plane (i.e. all-economy) for the right...
Why the kerfuffle over QR's tight all-economy plane?! Just because Qatar Airways is a premium airline doesn't mean all its destinations are glitzy and glamorous places stuffed full of premium pax. I've been to a few of these for places for business (Multan, Sialkot and Tbilisi). The demand is overwhelmingly for economy, economy, and (can I say it?) ECONOMY! QR is doing the smart thing by 'fitting' the right plane (i.e. all-economy) for the right market. Nothing more, nothing less.
While this is sad an unexpected, I do believe this is likely true.
The routes this aircraft is operating are all economy-heavy routes with extremely limited premium demand. For example, I have flown QR to Sialkot and Peshawar before, and often those routes are lucky to have 1-2 paying Business Class passengers. Occasionally the premium cabin will be more full, but those are always operational upgrades. For example, the last three times I have flown...
While this is sad an unexpected, I do believe this is likely true.
The routes this aircraft is operating are all economy-heavy routes with extremely limited premium demand. For example, I have flown QR to Sialkot and Peshawar before, and often those routes are lucky to have 1-2 paying Business Class passengers. Occasionally the premium cabin will be more full, but those are always operational upgrades. For example, the last three times I have flown Qatar Airways into Islamabad, I have been on a 777-300ER, and got an operational upgrade to Business Class on the three hour flight while being a mere Oneworld Ruby (AAdvantage Gold), along with a plethora of passengers getting op-ups. Those flights to Islamabad (the capital and third largest metro population in Pakistan), typically has at most a dozen paying premium passengers, but less most of the time. I have been on widebodies in J to Pakistan on QR being 1 of 2 premium passengers routinely (with over 300+ economy passengers). I have also flown QR out of Medina. Same thing, very limited premium demand. Flights to/from Medina are mostly just pilgrims.
I assume what happened is that QR was able to get earlier deliveries of A321neos, but getting these cabins from an ULCC was the only way. From a financial perspective, it makes perfect sense to cut their losses and stop selling premium cabin on those routes and replace that cabin footprint with more economy seats. Otherwise, they are just having to do op-ups and provide Y-fare passengers J-class products. I doubt the premium cabins on these flights made any money, since premium passengers weren't consistent.
It is puzzling from a brand perspective, because QR wants to be known as a premium brand, and this will no doubt hurt their image on that end, especially on the routes to Pakistan (a lot of us are very critical people when it comes to these kinds of things). Even worse is the no IFE and horrible seat pitch, which will no doubt hurt QR's reputation. I really hope this isn't the case, but unfortunately it does seem likely given the information we have. QR also has it's history of picking up aircraft from other airlines and flying them without reconfiguring them.
Al Baker would've never done such a thing, even if temporary.
Are we 100% sure they're going to enter service in that configuration, other than simply be delivered?
Also, do we yet know why Baker got the boot?
Well the flights are on sale in economy only, and the seat maps loaded sadly do show the high density configuration. So looks like for at least the first few months this is how they'll be flown.
Fingers crossed once they have a few of them, and some new seats delivered, they'll be able to take them out of service for retrofitting into a less ultra low cost config
The Qatar 321neos are the ones supposed to be in Air Asia fleet. That’’s why they are in one cabin configuration and cramped. And that’s why Qatar will use them on the announce routes. They will use them as “regional” planes on not such premium routes. It’s a solution for the troubles they have in adding new capacity but it is (in my point of view) a downgrade of service.
I don't buy it.
How could Qatar takeover AirAsia planes?
I never heard AirAsia deferring orders or converting 32Q to other jets.
So turns out there's 2 types of A321neos. The ones entering service next month were originally destined for Air Asia. These units were not taken up and QR called dibs on them. This is seperate from QR's own A321neos which will be fitted with a relatively luxurious cabin. The QR A321neo roulette game is going to be a fun one.
I mean, taking a few seats from the Y cabin and installing a bunch of...
So turns out there's 2 types of A321neos. The ones entering service next month were originally destined for Air Asia. These units were not taken up and QR called dibs on them. This is seperate from QR's own A321neos which will be fitted with a relatively luxurious cabin. The QR A321neo roulette game is going to be a fun one.
I mean, taking a few seats from the Y cabin and installing a bunch of recliners would have done the trick but QR probably knows better about its markets than I do.
So turns out there's 2 types of A321neos. The ones entering service next month were originally destined for Air Asia. These units were not taken up and QR called dibs on them. This is seperate from QR's own A321neos which will be fitted with a relatively luxurious cabin. The QR A321neo roulette game is going to be a fun one.
I mean, taking a few seats from the Y cabin and installing a bunch of...
So turns out there's 2 types of A321neos. The ones entering service next month were originally destined for Air Asia. These units were not taken up and QR called dibs on them. This is seperate from QR's own A321neos which will be fitted with a relatively luxurious cabin. The QR A321neo roulette game is going to be a fun one.
I mean, taking a few seats from the Y cabin and installing a bunch of recliners would have done the trick but QR probably knows better about its markets than I do.
Most likely for the migrant labor force commonly used in the gulf countries.
The seats will have PTVs.
https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2021/09/17/qatar-airways-to-fit-recaro-cl3810-economy-seating-on-a321-neos/
With the destinations you listed above, it somewhat makes sense as they're apparently going after labour workers working in the Middle East.
@ Mike O. -- I know that's the plan for the purpose-built QR A321neos, but I can't help but think that these are somehow being picked up secondhand. Keep in mind that these planes are entering service earlier than we're anticipating the A321neos, and when do planes otherwise arrive early nowadays?!
Since the first batch of neos were supposed to be delivered a few years ago, the seats could've been in production by then and it's been in storage since?
And apparently they're white tails! So maybe someone has deferred theirs?
Clearly for India routes
None of those destinations listed are in India - a handful of those are routes to Pakistan with a likely Hajj route to Medinah and a route to Central Asia.
Perhaps they look to shift some Indian routes to these lanes, but that would likely only be to tier 2 / tier 3 cities since it would be an uncompetitive product on routes that do have some premium demand vs Emirates, Eithad, etc. That feels...
None of those destinations listed are in India - a handful of those are routes to Pakistan with a likely Hajj route to Medinah and a route to Central Asia.
Perhaps they look to shift some Indian routes to these lanes, but that would likely only be to tier 2 / tier 3 cities since it would be an uncompetitive product on routes that do have some premium demand vs Emirates, Eithad, etc. That feels unlikely.
More likely you will see more Pakistan frequencies and perhaps some to Bangladesh where there is far less premium demand.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re picking up a secondhand airplane off of an ulcc , much as Delta did a couple years ago with its 737s from Lion Air. It’s possible that the retrofit in a premium configuration later on. Initially, based on what’s happening here in the US I thought maybe they were taking some of spirits planes, however, upon further investigation, it appears that airplanes that spirit has have fewer seats than the ones that are being delivered.
Yet the ex Lion are better than DL 737 and the ex Batik is probably the best 737 of any US carriers.
Spirit has 235 seats on their A321NEOs and that includes 8 of their big front seat.
These aircraft cannot be what they intend to do long-term and it is surprising that they will do this to their brand.
Emirates flies some really dense planes and their reputation doesn't care
I don't know of a single EK aircraft that is coach only. Do you?
seat density for the masses is one thing - many airlines do that.
Having no option but high density economy is not something legacy carriers offer, if at all.
I do not, as I was thinking of the 600+ config of the A380 they have. Emirates also has the advantage of 'cooperating' with flydubai, though.
The 615 seat A380 is only uncomfortable in the immigration queue after landing. The seat pitch and width is still far above average for economy. In fact that plane is only configured to about 70% of what the A380 is certified to hold.
The problem with this Qatar layout is that it's in full low cost configuration, the same seat count as notoriously uncomfortable Cebu Pacific. That's 97% of the absolute max capacity of the A321
@Tim
Just like how DL 767 sucks.
EK 777 sucks too.
EK still has 2-3-2 flying and was also one of the early adopters of 3-4-3 coach when everyone else was still flying 3-3-3.
Yet both doesn't seem to care about their brand because people like you echo only one side to people without knowledge.
People like you just echo how good DL A350 is in every cabin, just like how great EK A380 is too.