Exclusive: Qatar would fly to WSI without incentives, says CEO

“It adds an opportunity for a subset of travellers. It decongests the traffic that’s in the airport. It allows for a bit of diversification to address a large catchment area that is growing and evolving. It’s a seventh effective footprint into Australia. It gives us an opportunity to continue that growth,” he said.

“Ultimately, just the catchment area just makes absolute sense. It works in our favour. And as we’re as the first Middle Eastern airline to announce flying into Western Sydney, that also gives us an advantage.

“Don’t forget that Qatar Airways is also massive in cargo. 12 per cent of international cargo traffic belongs to Qatar Airways, the highest in the industry.

“So, optimising between belly cargo and freighters, that really adds an extra component in which we can support the industries over there – whether it’s on the agricultural side, metals, natural resources, energy, we’ve got specific tailored products where we can fit them either in the in the belly or freighters to make economics even more attractive for us vis-a-vis other airlines.”

The Qatar Airways Western Sydney-Doha service, which will commence in December 2027, is supported by the NSW government’s $16 million Western Sydney International Take-Off Fund, and comes after the federal government in May signed new bilateral air service agreements with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, allowing for seven extra weekly services each through WSI.

“We’re very committed to just ensuring we meet the obligations on the bilaterals and making sure we fly to the gateways,” said Al-Khater.

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“So, if it’s something that’s not generating value, then we would not necessarily we would not be flying. Once we find that that sweet spot, that Goldilocks zone of flying, then we make a decision to continue flying, which is just a reflection of the strength of Australian market.”

Asked about the year-long gap between announcement and first WSI services, Al-Khater said the airline wants to make sure it has the available fleet as it prepares to retire its aging A330s.

“We took a very, very concrete decision at the beginning of the year to exit a few older members of the fleet. So, we’re exiting our A330s, about 17 of them, because they’re about 20 years old,” he said.

“The product configuration wasn’t really that good, and wasn’t consistent with the Qatar Airways brand. So, as a result of the capacity that we have today, and the fact that we’re adding about north of 15 aircraft next year, the capacity is going to allow us to really manoeuvre and add more routes.

“We wanted to really ensure that we have a bit of space to start generating that demand to make sure that we can start continuing our flights to about 35 with the whole repertoire, and then build slowly into WSI.”

Tickets from Western Sydney to Doha will go on sale starting 19 December this year.