An impressive 10 years have now passed since Qatar Airways launched its Doha-Montreal service. The inaugural flight of this long-distance route took place in June 2011 with three weekly flights. Today it’s a daily service, which has continued even throughout the global health crisis.  Let’s take a look at this special milestone.

3,400 flights over 10 successful years

Highlighting the achievement on July 1st, the day Canada officially became an independent country, Qatar Airways has now flown to the country continuously for 10 years.

From its hub at Doha’s Hamad International Airport (DOH), Qatar Airways has been flying to Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL) since June 2011. This first began as a thrice-weekly service, which was expanded to four times weekly in December of 2018. It became a full once-daily service just this year, in February 2021.

Since that inaugural flight in June 2011, Qatar Airways says that it has flown more than 3,400 times between Doha and Montréal, “enabling nearly one million business and leisure passengers to connect to popular destinations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and beyond.”

Service throughout the crisis

“Qatar Airways never stopped flying to Montréal throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” the airline states with pride, noting that it has continued to be a ‘lifeline’ for Canadians returning home from abroad. Indeed, this exact service was used by the author of this article to fly from Kuwait during the onset of COVID-19. The flight was one of just two options available at the time as Kuwait had shut down all regular commercial passenger flights. Qatar Airways notes that it had worked closely with the Government of Canada and its embassies at the height of the global health emergency to make such flights happen.

Qatar Airways has also temporarily operated three weekly services to Toronto in addition to multiple charter flights to Vancouver. To date, the carrier has helped bring home more than 44,000 Canadian citizens and residents stranded abroad.

“Our commitment to Canada is steadfast and we are grateful for our unique partnership with the Government of Canada which has strengthened since 2011, most recently through our combined repatriation efforts to bring thousands of stranded Canadians safely home during the pandemic.” -His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, CEO, Qatar Airways Group

Service details

While the Airbus A350-900 may not have been used during the first few years of this route, it has since become the go-to aircraft for this 5,360 NM, or 10,425 km flight. The A350-900 used by Qatar Airways has 36 seats in its QSuite business class, and 247 seats in economy class. Qatar Airways notes that its cargo division also offers more than 100 tonnes of cargo capacity each week in each direction on the Doha- Montréal -Doha route. 

The airline’s schedule is as follows (all times local):

Frequency: Seven times weekly (once daily)

Doha to Montreal (QR763): Departs: 08:25 and arrives at 14:40 for a duration of 13 hours and 15 minutes.

Montreal to Doha (QR764): Departs: 21:15 and arrives at 16:20 (+1 day) for a total flight duration of 12 hours and five minutes.

Have you flown on this service at all in the last 10 years? Share your experience with us by leaving a comment.