Qatar Airways to resume flights between Malaga and Doha this summer
The route is of great importance for the Costa del Sol as it opens a door to the arrival of tourists not only from the Gulf but also from Asia
The Costa del Sol is recovering connectivity with another important tourism market. Qatar Airways has confirmed that this summer it will resume direct flights between Malaga and Doha.
The flag carrier of the country will fly the route four times a week, a connection that is of great importance for the Costa del Sol as it opens a door to the arrival of tourists not only from the Gulf but also from Asia, markets with travellers with a high purchasing power, explains Sergio García, president of the Association of Travel Agencies of the Costa del Sol.
The airline will link Malaga with Doha every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday from 15 June to 12 September. García said that the company plans to operate the route with one of the most modern aircraft on the market, an Airbus 350 900, a wide-body aircraft with a capacity for about 300 passengers. The aircraft is the same type which operated the route last high season, with 36 seats in business class and 347 in tourist.
The flight will leave the Qatari capital at eight in the morning, local time, to arrive in Malaga at 2.40pm, with a scheduled departure from the Costa del Sol airport at 3.55 pm.
The airline has maintained its firm commitment to the Costa del Sol since the summer of 2018. After resuming this route, last summer, following the outbreak of the pandemic, the executive president of Qatar Airways Group, Akbar Al Baker, assured that "Malaga is a firm favourite among tourists from all over the world, and travellers will soon be able to visit once again while enjoying Qatar Airways' award-winning hospitality and service."
Meanwhile, Sergio García is optimistic about the tourism sector on the coast. “We have had a busy week with an upturn in reservations. It seems that Easter is going to be good and the summer sales are increasing - even for cruises. We hope to turn the page on a 2021 that has been horrible due to the uncertainty and the waves of the pandemic that did not give us any respite," he said, considering that “We will have to wait until 2023 or 2024 to recover to 2019 levels. But people want to travel and need to travel. Holidays are sacred.”
