Qatar Airways Trims London Service: heathrow flights Cut Nearly a Fifth
Qatar Airways has reduced its planned London schedule for spring 2026, trimming overall Heathrow and Gatwick capacity ahead of the first week of May. The carrier has scaled back the number of departures to London for the April–June period and further pared back weekly flights in the week starting May 1, 2026 (ET), tightening options for travellers on the Doha–London axis.
Scope of the timetable reduction
In the previously published April–June slate, the airline had slated 951 departures between Doha and London; the updated plan now lists 818 departures, a cut of roughly 14% for that quarter. For the randomly sampled week beginning May 1, 2026 (ET), the carrier now schedules 59 weekly departures to London, down from 70 that appeared in last week’s plans.
The reduction is split across London’s two main airports. Gatwick will operate 11 weekly departures in that week, a move away from a planned double-daily rotation and a frequency that the carrier intends to maintain through September. Heathrow is shouldering the bulk of the cut: weekly departures there fall from 59 to 48, a loss of 11 weekly services — roughly one to two daily flights.
What this means for heathrow flights and travellers
The Heathrow cut represents nearly a fifth of the airline’s weekly departures to that airport in the May sample week. That scale of reduction is likely to change connectivity options for passengers using London as a transit point to destinations beyond Doha, and could tighten seat availability on peak services. The schedule adjustment also creates the potential for slot reallocations at Heathrow; industry routing patterns suggest some of the returned capacity could be reabsorbed by partner carriers at that airport.
From a booking perspective, passengers planning travel in May or the April–June window should expect fewer daily options and may face higher load factors on remaining flights. The airline’s network planning shows the reduction is concentrated in frequency rather than a wholesale withdrawal from the market — both Heathrow and Gatwick remain served, but with a leaner roster of daily rotations.
Operational context and likely next steps
Schedule revisions of this kind usually reflect a mix of demand shifts, fleet deployment choices and seasonal network optimisation. While the April–June cut is material, the carrier’s plans for July–October indicate a much smaller adjustment — only a modest dip in capacity in that later period — suggesting this spring change is chiefly a short‑term rebalancing rather than a permanent market exit.
For Heathrow, the immediate consequence is a concentration of services on fewer daily time slots; published weekly departure lists for early May show the remaining rotations spread across morning, afternoon and evening windows. Gatwick’s adjusted 11‑weekly service replaces earlier plans for a more intensive rotation and will persist through the summer timetable.
Airline customers are advised to review itineraries and check for timetable updates ahead of travel. As the carrier finalises slot movements and aircraft assignments, further fine tuning of daily departure patterns remains possible in the weeks leading up to May 1, 2026 (ET).
