American Airlines begins regular New York to Doha flights
American Airlines has commenced flights as part of its scheduled service from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Doha, Qatar.
The regular nonstop service, announced in late 2021, finally commenced a few days ago on June 4th. The airline has been eyeing this route for more than two years but has held back on it due to a lack of demand caused by the pandemic.
American Airlines will operate flight AA120 on a daily frequency from JFK to DOH. The airline’s first nonstop scheduled service to Qatar will take off from JFK at 00:55 and commence the 12.5-hour journey westward, arriving in Doha at approximately 21:00 local time.
The return journey will be operated by flight number AA 121, leaving DOH at 01:35 for an 08:45 arrival into JFK. The return journey is extended by about an hour due to some interesting natural geophysical phenomena.
American’s aircraft of choice for the new route is its flagship Boeing 777-300ER outfitted in a lavish four-class configuration. Up-front, there are eight Flagship First seats, an office-style lie-flat experience of pure luxury. Next in line is the Flagship Business cabin with 52 seats, followed by 28 seats in premium economy.
Lastly, the main cabin situated at the end is equipped with 216 seats that offer 31”-36” of pitch and up to 6” of recline.
All-in-all, American’s Boeing 777-300ERs can fit 304 passengers, which translates into 2,128 seats per week on each leg of the journey. Normally, there isn’t enough demand on the JFK-DOH route to fill so many seats, especially considering Qatar Airways already operates an established flight using its Airbus A350s. However, American Airlines has come up with a clever strategy by partnering up with a fellow oneworld member.
Operating the JFK-DOH route is all about getting access to connecting traffic for American Airlines. Brian Znotins, American’s Vice President for Network and Schedule Planning, stated the following to Simple Flying in an interview on the new services,
“There’s very little demand to Doha itself. Obviously, you do have the World Cup there next fall, and that’s something that we will see a lot of local demand for. But in terms of the run rate performance of this flight, it’s all about connections to India, Africa and the Middle East.”
Indeed, American’s flights are timed in such a way as to provide the best connections onward to Asia, Africa, and other parts of the Gulf. The day after American began operating the new route, it released a statement announcing a new codeshare agreement with Qatar Airways, which would allow the former’s customers to book seats on the latter’s flights from Doha to 16 new countries.
Commenting on the new strategic partnership, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said,
“Qatar Airways is pleased to extend our codeshare partnership with American Airlines, as yet another step in renewing our long-term strategic partnership with the airline. The expansion of our codeshare agreement is a testament to our joint confidence in the future of aviation, and our shared mission of enhancing the customer experience for millions of passengers worldwide. We are thrilled to build on our relationship with our fellow oneworld partner to provide passengers with the reliable, safe and award-winning service that they have come to know and expect from Qatar Airways.”
