Qatar Airways says customers will be the biggest winners from new competition for international flights into Canberra, amid strong ticket sales for its new route launching on February 13.
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The airline has begun promoting Canberra on its international network and will monitor ticket sales connecting through Sydney as it considers any future moves to make the Canberra route direct to Doha.
Country manager for Australasia Adam Radwanski said Lonely Planet's move to name Canberra as one of the top three destinations to visit in 2018 had been a timely boost for the new route and recruitment for a small number of new staff was under way.
"We we launch a route we intend to stay in the market and we are committed to work with the local community and the local authorities to develop it," he said.
"We are committed among ourselves, among our colleagues, to jointly make efforts to grow the new route and we have been very successful over the last few years."
He said Qatar's Adelaide route, launched in 2016, was a good example of success in Australia.
"Now we are operating to there five times a week and we are upgrading to a daily service from December 1."
The second international carrier to launch flights to Canberra Airport, Qatar will fly passengers to Sydney on a 358-seater Boeing 777-300 aircraft, with 42 fully-flat seats in business class and 316 economy seats.
Mr Radwanski said the "very reliable" planes had a fully on-demand menu in business class and a leading offering of entertainment options.
"Competition is good for the customer," he said.
"The number one thing is certainly service. That's something that every customer flying on Qatar Airways highly appreciates, our very attentive and friendly service.
"Overall our product has been designed with our customer in mind, starting from the planning stage through time in the air and on the ground, to post-flight service experience."
He said "time would show" if the route would be made direct to Doha.
"We are here to stay in Canberra. The service will operate via Sydney at first and whether it will become an independent service, non-stop to Doha, in the future will be decided.
"We all put an incredible amount of effort to make this route a success."
Canberra to Sydney flights will depart at 1.45pm daily, with incoming flights landing at 8.25am after leaving Sydney an hour earlier.
Return flights will depart Doha at 8.10am, arriving in Sydney at 6.15am the next day, before landing in Canberra at 8.25am.
Qatar has been considering a Canberra route for more than a year, coming after Singapore Airlines announced its direct international service between Singapore, Canberra and Wellington in January 2016.
Mr Radwanski said Qatar's new flights would benefit not only tourism and business travellers.
"We support local exporters, we have worked with government to promote in-bound tourism to Adelaide, for developing trade, and we will certainly be working closely on the same activities with Canberra," he said.
