Qatar 2022: Doha’s Hamad International Airport gears up for a busy tourist season

Hamad International Airport

Doha’s Hamad International Airport will be processing 8,000-10,000 passengers an hour during the World Cup period, it was revealed on Thursday, while Doha airport will serve 5,000-6,000 spectators per hour.

Speaking at a press conference in Doha, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said all airlines operating shuttle services will be running at peak capacity, and passenger levels and departure destinations will fluctuate as the World Cup progresses.

“This all depends on the airspace capacity and the performance of the airlines that have requested the timing to operate – there will be no room left for delays or holding times.”

In order to serve the World Cup markets, Qatar Airways will remove many destinations from its network and also reduce frequencies on certain routes.

“This is in order for us to make the aircraft available to carry spectators,” said Al Baker. “This is a very dynamic process because we don’t know who will win and which country will see a sudden demand.”

Hamad International Airport, which opened to the public in 2014, is the main international airport of Doha.

The airport served a total of 7.14 million passengers in the first quarter of 2022, with 2.16 million passengers in January, 2.17 million in February and 2.81 million in March 2022.

The airport’s expansion, currently in Phase A, is set to increase its capacity to more than 58 million passengers annually by this year, and Phase B, which will commence after the Fifa World Cup, will see its capacity climb to over 60 million.

"We are looking forward to a busy summer period as more travel destinations open up around the world. However, the situation for our industry is expected to remain volatile and dynamic in 2022," said Badr Al Meer, Hamad International Airport’s Chief Operating Officer, in a statement earlier.

"We are taking an optimistic view of the year ahead, in which Hamad International will host fans from around the world for the Fifa World Cup. We are expecting a resurgence in air travel demand during the summer months," he added.