I have been wondering this for a long time. Even though Emirates operates to both of these airports, do you think Qatar and Etihad would have great business if they both operate to LAX and SFO? Right now, Etihad operates to O’Hare, JFK, and soon Dulles. And Qatar operates to Atlanta, O’Hare, Houston, Newark, JFK, and Dulles.
My question is do you think Qatar and Etihad should start operations to LAX and SFO, and will they have great business?
I would imagine they would do well, I seem to remember Qatari talking about LAX a few months ago but wouldn’t swear to it. The downside is Doha isn’t exactly the vacation spot Dubai is so they would have to rely almost 100% on either business or connections. Etihad and Qatari both have good connections to India, Pakistan and the rest of the Middle East and they are both very highly regarded airlines. My personal problem is I would have to backtrack 2 hours from Jeddah to get to Doha. I would rather go to FRA then LAX. At least FRA is the right direction.
Wasn’t Etihad just voted #1 in the world?
John in Saudi
Also remember that QR and ET operate their aircraft in a bit of a denser configuration than EK and that LAX and SFO are much further from the east coast destinations they currently serve. That may mean that the flights would have to take a significant weight restriction which airlines don’t like to do.
They code share from Australia with “Virgin Australia” using new B777-300ER’s, not sure about Europe though
