Qatar Airways increases São Paulo flights to 17 weekly; its return to Buenos Aires remains suspended
Qatar Airways will expand its operations in North and South America starting June 2025, increasing flight frequencies to Toronto and São Paulo. Beginning June 19, the airline will offer five weekly flights to Toronto Pearson (YYZ), with plans to transition to daily service during the winter season. Starting June 25, flights to São Paulo/Guarulhos (GRU) will increase from 14 to 17 weekly frequencies.
The airline explained that the expansion is a response to growing demand since it launched services to Toronto in December 2024. "We saw a strong response from the market," said Thierry Antinori, Chief Commercial Officer of Qatar Airways. "We are proud to increase frequencies to meet that demand for our award-winning travel experience," he added.
Regarding South America, Antinori noted that São Paulo is a strategic hub for both tourism and business travel.
During the summer, Toronto flights will operate five days a week (Wednesday through Sunday), and are scheduled to become daily flights using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in the winter. For São Paulo, the additional departures from Doha will operate on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. According to Cirium, 10 weekly flights will be operated with Boeing 777-200LR aircraft and 7 with Airbus A350-1000.
Passengers will also be able to connect to over 55 destinations across Latin America via an interline agreement with LATAM Airlines, covering cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Lima, and Santiago de Chile.
This frequency increase to São Paulo—and the mention of the LATAM Airlines partnership (in which Qatar Airways holds a 10% stake)—further dims the prospects of a return to Buenos Aires in the near future.
Qatar Airways suspended its Argentina operations in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline had previously offered daily flights to Buenos Aires-Ezeiza via São Paulo-Guarulhos using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
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After much speculation, Qatar Airways announced a return to Argentina in March 2023, initially scheduled for December, later postponed to January 2024, and eventually canceled altogether in September.
Currently, the only direct air service between Argentina and the Middle East—primarily serving as a bridge to the Far East and Pacific—is offered by Emirates, which operates five weekly flights via Rio de Janeiro. However, its seat capacity is still 26% lower than in 2019, comparing May figures year over year.
AUTOR
Contando la aviación desde marzo del año 2000. Fundador y Managing Editor de Aviacionline.
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