Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) will launch a new route from Doha Hamad International to Da Nang on December 19, 2018, becoming the maiden airline to offer long-haul services from the Vietnamese leisure destination, ch-aviation schedule analysis has revealed.
The Qatari carrier will operate the route 4x weekly using a B787-8 equipment.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Da Nang currently sees 716 weekly departures on domestic and regional routes to South-East and East Asia. The largest operators at the airport are VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi Noi Bai International) and Vietnam Airlines (VN, Hanoi Noi Bai International) with a 27.2% and 26.2% market share by capacity, respectively.
Da Nang sees limited widebody operations, exclusively on the route to Seoul Incheon, which is operated by Asiana Airlines with B747-400s and A330-300s; by Korean Air with B777-300s; and by Jin Air with B777-200s.
Qatar Airways already serves Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi Noi Bai International in Viet Nam directly from Doha. It also operates to the former airport via Phnom Penh and to the latter via Bangkok Suvarnabhumi. Gulf rival Emirates also operates to both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
