This week Qatar Airways' Doha to Incheon service no longer routes passengers via Osaka - marking the first non-stop between the two city pairs. Why the change? And what unserved markets could it connect to from Doha? The Hub takes a closer look.

Qatar Airways says it will operate a fleet of 120 aircraft by 2013, by which time its global network will rise to 120 destinations. Plus, with multiple Boeing and Airbus jets on order- including 5 A380s from 2012, the carrier continues to support growth of the international network through its Doha hub.

New destinations this year on the route map include Copenhagen from March 30, Ankara on April 5, Tokyo on April 26 and Barcelona on June 7. The carrier is also serving the South Americas for the first time and has chosen daily flights from Doha to Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires from June 24 - using newly acquired Boeing 777-200s.

Qatar has also been assessing capacity on its current schedule and it seems that demand is clearly high enough for Qatar Airways to create a non-stop link between Doha and Seoul Incheon this week.

IATA BSP data shows that over 51,000 passengers flew between the city pairs between January 2009 and 2010 indirectly giving Qatar a strong base of passengers to launch a non-stop service, infact 67% of this indirect traffic was with Qatar.

The schedule will be a ten-times weekly using A330 aircraft. So what factors might the airline have considered to warrant a non-stop service? It is possible that Qatar is tapping into opportunities created by the growth of South Korean corporations, especially from the construction and energy sectors, which are expanding into the Middle East and Africa. One example, the press recently reported Korea National Oil (Corp)'s declared interest in a stake in Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to develop its offshore oilfield.

There is also an upward curve in the numbers of South Korean workers working in the Middle East's oil sector.

Potential for connecting traffic to Africa

Qatar Airways' network can provide a hub feed through Doha for traffic from Seoul into Africa (where there is strong demand), which would complement demand on the Incheon-Doha sector.

Scheduling data shows that there are limited non-stop services from Incheon to Africa. However,over 139,000 passengers flew from Incheon to Africa in total from Jan 09-10. Qatar Airways itself flew over 20,000 passengers from Doha to Africa which had originated in Incheon.This data shows that the Incheon Doha flight could capture increased transit traffic through to Africa. (Source: IATA BSP Data/Airport IS Jan 09-10)

It also fits into the Qatar Airways core strategy, which aims to make Doha a transit point in the Middle East.

Where next for Qatar Airways?

In terms of point-to-point traffic, Qatar may well look to serve Calcutta and Bangalore from Doha in the future - its two largest unserved markets. IATA BSP data shows that 17,830 and 16,046 passengers travelled between the city pairs (respectively) between January 2009 and 2010.

However it also faces strong competition from Emirates and Etihad for transit passengers. The Hub's gap analysis of the Emirates, Etihad and Qatar network suggests that Qatar could add capacity into the following 5 markets where Emirates and Etihad have a strong presence: