Qatar Airways intends to launch an interesting new ultra long haul flight.
In this post:
Qatar Airways wants to fly to Bogota, Colombia
Qatar Airways has requested permission with regulators in Colombia to launch a new route to the country. Specifically, the airline wants to fly between Doha, Qatar (DOH), and Bogota, Colombia (BOG), with a technical stop on the return in Caracas, Venezuela (CCS).
The airline wants the route to operate twice weekly, using Airbus A350-1000s and/or Boeing 777-300ERs. Qatar does need permission to operate the route, bit I can’t imagine this wouldn’t be granted, in the context of a trying to grow ties between the countries.
The stop in Caracas would solely be a technical stop, so the airline wouldn’t have pick-up or drop-off rights there. The logic for the technical stop is that Bogota is at such a high altitude that an aircraft couldn’t fly nonstop to Doha without major payload restrictions. Meanwhile routing via Caracas, which is at a lower altitude, would make that all possible. Admittedly it’s a refueling stop that might give some passengers pause.
If it launches, this would be one of Qatar Airways’ longest routes. The Doha to Bogota segment would cover a distance of 8,261 miles. For the return via Caracas, the first segment would cover 636 miles, while the second segment would cover 7,630 miles. The Caracas stop would only add five miles to the direct air distance.
For context on the length of that flight, Qatar Airways’ flights to California and Texas all cover somewhere around 8,000 to 8,300 miles, so this flight would be a comparable length. Meanwhile Qatar Airways’ longest route is to New Zealand, and that flight covers just over 9,000 miles.
How this fits into Qatar Airways’ network
Currently Qatar Airways’ only destination in South America is Sao Paulo, Brazil (GRU), which is served twice daily. Before the pandemic, Qatar Airways also had a tag flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina (EZE), but that’s no longer operated.
I’m not super familiar with the economics of ultra long haul service to Northern South America. On the one hand, this seems like a really long route, and you need decent yields to make the economics of service like this work.
On the other hand, Qatar Airways owns a stake in LATAM, which has a decent network out of Bogota. So between LATAM and general interline opportunities, this would potentially capture traffic headed for Central America and the top half of South America. Also keep in mind that connecting in the United States can be complicated for some, given that you need a visa to transit the United States internationally.
Speaking of Middle Eastern airlines flying to Bogota and transiting the United States, Qatar Airways wouldn’t be the first Gulf carrier to fly to Bogota. In June 2024, we saw Emirates add a new fifth freedom flight to Bogota out of Miami (MIA), as an extension of the carrier’s existing service to Miami.
As you can see, Emirates is taking a totally different approach there, for better or worse. The airline is able to capture some of the Miami to Bogota market (which is substantial), though perhaps the flight isn’t as convenient for those traveling between the Gulf region and Colombia, given the challenges with transiting the US. Flying Emirates first class between Miami and Bogota sure is a treat, though!
Bottom line
Qatar Airways has requested permission to launch twice weekly flights to Bogota. The airline plans to fly there nonstop from Doha, and operate via Caracas on the return, given the limitations of ultra long haul service out of Bogota due to the altitude.
It’ll be interesting to see if this route ends up launching, and if so, how it performs. It’s always nice to see airlines expand into new markets, and this would fill a major gap in Qatar Airways’ network.
What do you make of Qatar Airways adding Bogota flights?
It’s all about diplomacy and flying rights, Qatar has a good relationship with Venezuela but mostly nothing with the smaller islands in the Caribbean
So, a stop in Caracas for CHEAP FUEL with hard currency going to support the local dictator. Well done! SLOW CLAP!!!!
Under no circumstances would I fly this flight and risk getting stuck in CCS due to mechanical issues (or "mechanical issues").
Definitely another "Terrorist Express" flight. One has to wonder why they are stopping in Caracas. I am sure there will be enough "cargo" loaded onto the flight, to where the economics of those up front or the back dont matter.
CCS is not a good choice. Too much instability, and what happens in an IRROP? As other readers have posted, POS or CUR makes much more sense.
Why not Paramaribo? This would make a lot more sense.
Great flight for smuggling arms from Iran to Venezuela.
There are other airports for technical stops. The airport in Port of Spain, Trinidad as well as Georgetown, Guyana have long runways.
I can wait to see this happen.
I have a question
How long will the flight take
How long will the stopover take
I think Qatar Airways can do it
Curaçao would make more sense than Caracas.
Latin America is the largest growing market segment from India, Central Asia and Africa - primarily with undocumented persons trying to enter the USA under guidance of migrant traffickers.
Either Qatar is clueless about the market dynamics and is playing by the numbers alone, or they don't care and are happy to chase this market like Turkish has done in the past.
If that's really the market they're chasing, seems like a bad time to do so given the change in US administrations...
I'm sure that market fills up a percentage of the seats in the back. But they're probably expecting some upfront demand to make the flight profitable.
You're a smart guy, but really missed the mark.
Qatar launching a flight to carry undocumented workers? You are so much smarter than that comment.
In general, I agree it's a challenging route.
However there are legitimate pax segments to consider. Colombia has one of the healthier SoAm economies. It's a healthy energy market...HELLO to the Middle East (though mainly mining, so that's far different than the ME, I would agree). !...
You're a smart guy, but really missed the mark.
Qatar launching a flight to carry undocumented workers? You are so much smarter than that comment.
In general, I agree it's a challenging route.
However there are legitimate pax segments to consider. Colombia has one of the healthier SoAm economies. It's a healthy energy market...HELLO to the Middle East (though mainly mining, so that's far different than the ME, I would agree). ! It has the largest study abroad market from SoAm (that's a tricky segment, but you wouldn't know that).
Sean, I observe you as really smart...but wayward with your post.
Does anyone know if airline fuel is particularly cheap in Venezuela. I can see that going either way given PDVSA’s history.
Caracas?
I get that Bogota's altitude creates a half full gas tank issue, but Barbados, Panama City or Trinidad sounds like a more promising stop for dependable airline fuel.
It seems they will have pick-up and drop-off rights in CCS but no traffic between BOG and CCS; similar to TK's BOG-PTY route and KL's AMS-CTG route.
Interesting route and hope it works, but LATAM out of Bogota doesn't operate any where in Central America. Only to domestic Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru.
Maybe Qatar will try and get LATAM’s Colombia subsidiary to expand and compete with Avianca to help feed the flight?
They also have an interline with AV
It should be easier for the A350K with its superior range over the 777-300 to do that route.