New Route of the Day (9 December 2021): Qatar Airways between Doha and Odessa

Qatar Airways launched its latest new route on Thursday 9 December from Doha to Odessa in Ukraine. The 3,000-kilometre route will be served 3-weekly (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) using the airline’s 132-seat A320s and faces no direct competition. This becomes the airline’s second route to Ukraine as it already serves Kiev KBP with 2-daily flights. Odessa is now linked to all three major Middle Eastern hubs, as Wizz Air Abu Dhabi serves Abu Dhabi (2-weekly with A321s – though not from 13 January 2022 to 6 February 2022 according to the airline’s on-line booking tool) and flydubai serves Dubai (3-weekly with 737-800s)

What they said

His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, Group Chief Executive of Qatar Airways, said: “We have been operating to the Ukraine since August 2017 and our launch to Odesa marks a milestone in our history with the country. Odesa is rightly known as the pearl of the Black Sea and we look forward to bringing visitors from around the world to explore its rich cultural history as well as further afield along the coast and inland in the south west of Ukraine. Equally we are excited to offer leisure travellers from Ukraine access to our expanding network such as our Indian Ocean winter sun destinations including the Maldives, the Seychelles and Zanzibar. The route will also connect Ukrainians with friends and family across the globe from Sydney, Dubai and Bangkok.”

First new European destination since start of the pandemic

Although Qatar Airways has continued flying to many (but by no means all) of its existing European destinations since the pandemic started, Odessa is the airline’s first new destination in Europe since it launched service to Lisbon in June 2019. However, it did recently change airport in Moscow from Domodedovo to Sheremetyevo, and began operating from the new airport in Berlin when Tegel closed.