Qatar Airways Cuts Service to Philadelphia

Qatar Airways has confirmed that it will cease flying to Philadelphia. The action comes as partner American Airlines moved its Doha flight from New York to Philadelphia. In response, the airline increased its New York frequency to thrice daily.

It is unclear precisely when Qatar's flag carrier will end its Philadelphia service. Flights are available until October 29th, the last day of the summer season. However, AeroRoutes states that the service will end on the 27th. Regardless, it appears that American Airlines will take over on October 30th as part of its winter schedule transition.

Having served the Pennsylvania hub since April 2014, Qatar Airways presently uses the Boeing 777-300ER on the 6,797-mile route. Operating daily, the planned winter schedule was to be as follows, with all times local:

The Journey’s End … Or Is It?

Of course, Philadelphia will remain a part of Qatar Airways' network, now as a codeshare flight operated by American. As such, the schedule is generally similar to ensure two-way connectivity to other flights at the Doha and Philadelphia hubs.

Using the lower-capacity Boeing 787-9 — which will help improve winter fares, loads, and performance — AA120 will depart Philadelphia at 20:55 and arrive at 17:30 the next day (12h 35m block). After staying overnight in the Middle East, AA121 will depart at 08:55 and return at 15:25 (14h 30m).

[PHL,DOH]
 

Route Performance History

According to US DOT T-100 data, Qatar Airways carried approximately 91,000 Philadelphia passengers between January and May 2023, with an average seat load factor of 85%. It was a time when the 777-300ER, A350-900, and A350-1000 were all used to varying degrees. While only one portion of its performance, SLF rose to over 91% in May.

Predictably, the point-to-point fraction of demand — passengers who did not connect in Philadelphia and Doha — was minuscule. Booking data suggests that there were barely 4,000 roundtrip passengers: 27 daily.

Some five percent of passengers began in Doha and connected to American Airlines flights in Philadelphia, while 29% transited in both Doha and Philadelphia. More passengers flew the Amritsar-Doha-Philadelphia-Toronto route than anywhere else.

[ATQ,DOH],[DOH,PHL],[PHL,YYZ]

The remaining 62% of passengers transferred flights in Doha, mainly to India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates. Given the changes in Philadelphia, Doha is expected to have 113 departing passenger flights to the United States each week this winter (about 226 roundtrips) with 12 destinations served non-stop.