Qatar Airways locks in Canberra restart date
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By Andrew Curran.
Qatar Airways has locked in a December return to Canberra (CBR), with flights resuming on December 8, 2026.
Flight QR988/989 will operate four days a week and continue to route via Melbourne (MEL), allowing the airline to sidestep the seven weekly return-flight cap on the Doha (DOH) – Melbourne route.
The B777-300ER-operated services will depart Doha on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, arriving in Canberra the following morning. Return flights will leave Canberra on Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays.
Flying time is approximately 16 hours eastbound and 17 hours westbound. Transit time in Melbourne is around 90 minutes.
Qatar Airways plans to increase the service to daily flights from March 2027.
The airline suspended its Canberra flights when the Iran–Israel conflict began, having only resumed services to Australia’s national capital in December 2025. Prior to that, it had previously served Canberra via both Melbourne and Sydney (SYD).
Canberra flights allow Qatar Airways to sidestep flight caps
While convenient for local travellers, Qatar Airways has never operated to Canberra solely because of local demand. Instead, by adding a tag flight to a designated secondary airport, the airline can circumvent bilateral flight caps that limit the number of direct services between Doha and Australia’s larger gateways.
During the upcoming Southern Hemisphere summer, Qatar Airways will operate 11 weekly flights between Doha and Melbourne, or 18 if the daily wet-leased services operated on behalf of Virgin Australia are included.
Qatar Airways also serves Sydney, Brisbane (BNE), Perth (PER) and Adelaide (ADL).
Australian Government data for February 2026, the most recent available and reflecting demand before the outbreak of the Iran–Israel conflict, shows Qatar Airways operated 324 flights to and from Australia during the month, carrying 97,072 passengers with an average load factor of 74.1%.
Photo: Qatar Airways.
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com