Qatar Airways adds 12 cities; perhaps time for Emirates to combine with flydubai

There is a different rhythm in Doha with Qatar Airways. As Emirates trims US flights by 19% and Etihad cuts global destinations and capacity, on 24-Apr-2017 Qatar Airways announced its intent to add 12 new destinations in 2018. This is on top of eight destinations for 2017 that it announced in late 2016. These cities still need to be realised, but are characterised by thinner markets with a leisure focus. Qatar is growing its London and Bangkok catchment areas with service to Cardiff and Utapao.

Qatar Airways serves the highest number of destinations of the three Gulf airlines, and it serves 49 destinations that Emirates does not. About three quarters of these destinations are flown by narrowbody aircraft and small widebodies, which Emirates does not operate. This highlights Emirates' own growth constraint of effectively having the 777-300ER as it is smallest aircraft type. Emirates needs agility to diversify and right size its network. Emirates has been studying an order for smaller widebodies - A350s or 787s - and more recently is evaluating narrowbody aircraft, too. Rather than establishing its own narrowbody operation, Emirates could consider merging with sister airline flydubai.