Qatar Business: Qatar likely to re-open Doha airport say reports – Gulf Digital News

Qatar Business: Qatar likely to re-open Doha airport say reports – Gulf Digital News

Qatar will reopen the Doha International Airport next week ahead of the Fifa World Cup 2022, reports said.

The Doha airport has been in semi-retirement since it was replaced in 2014 by the Hamad International Airport.

Qatari authorities did not comment on the move from Hamad back to Doha airport, but Kuwait's Jazeera Airways, the UAE's flydubai, Oman's SalamAir and Turkey's Pegasus Airlines have begun selling tickets to Doha airport from September 15, said a Khaleej Times report.

It is currently mainly being used for flights by Qatar's royal family and VIPs along with its air force.

Hamad International Airport was used by three million passengers in June alone and 8.42 million in the second quarter of 2022, a figure which the civil aviation authority said was 18 per cent higher than the first three months of the year.

It is also undergoing an expansion that will see capacity increased to 58 million passengers a year.

With 150,000 people a day expected to arrive during the peak days of the World Cup, which starts on November 20 and will last four weeks, some aviation analysts have said Hamad airport might struggle to cope.

Low-cost carrier Jazeera Airways said on its website that from next Thursday "all of