The new service to Seattle is the airline’s second U.S. destination this year, increasing Qatar Airways’ service to 59 weekly flights to 11 U.S. cities. The carrier also announced a new frequent flyer partnership with Alaska Airlines, effective December 15, 2020.
On Tuesday (December 8, 2020), Qatar Airways announced the launch of four weekly flights to Seattle starting March 15, 2021, the second new U.S. destination added this year. The new service to Seattle expands the carrier’s U.S. offer to 59 weekly flights to 11 destinations, more than the airline operated before the global COVID-19 pandemic. Flights to Seattle will be operated with a state-of-the-art Airbus A350-900 featuring 36 seats in the carrier’s award-winning Qsuite Business Class and 247 Economy Class seats. Qatar Airways’ guests traveling to or from Seattle will enjoy seamless connectivity via Hamad International Airport in Doha with service to 20 destinations in Africa, 29 in the Asia-Pacific region, 13 in India, and 15 in the Middle East by the end of March 2021.
In addition to the new Seattle service, the airline also announced a new frequent flyer partnership with Alaska Airlines starting December 15, 2020, with further plans to implement a codeshare agreement when Alaska officially joins the oneworld alliance in March 2021. Starting December 15th members of Qatar Airways Privilege Club and Alaska Mileage Plan will be able to earn frequent flyer miles on both airlines, while members will be able to redeem miles and enjoy elite status perks, including lounge access, from March 31, 2021. In Tuesday’s announcement, Qatar Airways Group’s Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said,
“Qatar Airways is committed to enhancing connectivity within the U.S. market, and the launch of flights to Seattle, our second new U.S. destination since the onset of the pandemic, epitomizes this commitment. We are excited to welcome Washington State’s largest city as our seventh new destination announced this year, and our eleventh U.S. gateway, surpassing the number of destinations we operated in the U.S. pre-COVID19. Home to a large tech industry and a portal of innovation, Seattle is a destination that is internationally renowned for business and leisure travel.
“Despite the challenges of 2020, Qatar Airways has remained committed to exploring every opportunity to further enhance the travel experience for our millions of passengers and is proud to secure another important strategic partnership in North America. In Alaska Airlines, we will have a very strong partner to connect customers from the U.S. West Coast to Doha and beyond via its hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, complementing our existing strategic partnerships with American Airlines and JetBlue. We look forward to further deepening our cooperation with the newest joiner to the oneworld family and continuing to provide our passengers the reliable, safe and award-winning service that they have come to trust from us.”
Also commenting on the new partnership with Qatar Airways, Alaska Air Group’s Chairman and CEO, Brad Tilden added,
“We’re thrilled to be joining the oneworld alliance and to begin this new partnership with an outstanding airline like Qatar Airways. As more of us resume international air travel next year, we are excited to offer our guests new nonstop service on Qatar Airways from Seattle to Doha, in addition to service to Doha from our hubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco. This partnership opens up tremendous destinations around the world and amazing opportunities for our guests.”
Qatar Airways’ Business Class guests traveling to Seattle will enjoy the award-winning Qsuite business class seat which features sliding privacy doors and the option to us a ‘Do not Disturb’ (DND) indicator for added privacy. The Qsuite layout is in a 1-2-1 configuration, providing the most spacious, comfortable, fully private and socially distanced Business Class experience in the sky. Seattle joins existing service to Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), New York (JFK), Philadelphia (PHL), San Francisco (SFO) and Washington D.C. (IAD).
Qatar Airways currently operates over 700 weekly flights to over 100 global destinations. The carrier will expand their network to 126 destinations by the end of March 2021 with service to 20 destinations in Africa, 11 in the Americas, 29 in the Asia-Pacific region, 38 in Europe, 13 in India and 15 in the Middle East. Qatar Airways is the largest operator of the Airbus A350 and recently took delivery of three state-of-the-art Airbus A350-1000s, increasing their A350 fleet to 52 aircraft with an average age of only 2.6 years.
Source: Qatar Airways