Doha Becomes Iberia’s Only Destination in the Middle East and Asia in Deal With Qatar Airways

Spanish flag carrier Iberia has launched a new direct flight between Madrid and Doha, making it the airline’s only destination in the Middle East and marking a rare change in Iberia’s focus on Latin and South America.

The new daily service is scheduled to depart Madrid Barajas Airport at 8:30 am and arrive at Doha Hamad International Airport at 5:35 pm, timed to coincide with onward flights to more than 200 destinations across Asia, Australasia, the Middle East and Africa.

The return flight departs Doha at 12:55 am and arrives in the Spanish capital at 7:10 am. The service is designed to complement two existing daily flights operated by Qatar Airways.

Operated by an Airbus A330 aircraft, the new flight will have capacity for 288 passengers and is designed to feed into the Qatar Airways network as part of a joint venture which includes British Airways.

Oneworld alliance member Qatar Airways is believed to have offered big incentives to its fellow alliance members, like British Airways, Finnair, Japan Airlines, American Airlines, and now Iberia, to open routes to Doha.

By next year, 10 out of 13 Oneworld members will operate flights to and from Doha.

Still not popular as a destination in its own right, passengers are primarily flying to Doha to connect to other flights operated by Qatar Airways. Flights operated by other airlines to Doha are believed to be flying with high passenger loads, but yields are typically weak.

Turning Doha into a hub for the Oneworld alliance has, however, allowed Qatar Airways to increase capacity on key routes without sacrificing aircraft that are better deployed opening up new routes and destinations.

The inaugural Iberia flight to Doha took off on Monday with a load factor of nearly 94%, and Madrd’s local government hopes some of those passengers will be “high-value and long-stay visitors” from the Middle East.