Qatar Airways Africa routes from Doha: Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Accra and the ones nobody bids, the layovers and why the African crew hold them
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#1 Qatar, from Sudan, three years, and the Qatar threads cover the QSuite, the Doha life and the staff travel. The Africa network is a third of my roster and nobody has written it from the Doha side. Here it is.
The network
Doha to Lagos, Accra, Abuja, Nairobi, Entebbe, Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Maputo, Luanda, Addis, Khartoum when it flies, Cairo, Casablanca, Tunis, Algiers, Kigali, Lusaka, Harare, Windhoek, Mogadishu, Djibouti. One of the largest Africa networks from any hub. The 787s, the A350s and the 777s, and the A320s on the shorter ones.
The ones everyone bids
Cape Town (the layover), Nairobi (the park), Zanzibar (the beach), Johannesburg (Sandton, with the security briefing), Casablanca and Tunis (the North African crew's commutes). These go senior and the bidding is competitive.
The ones nobody bids
The turnarounds and the short layovers to the cities with the strict security briefings: the crew stay at the hotel, the sector is long, the return is the same night or the next morning. Lagos is in between: a good hotel, a contained layover, lively flights. The ones nobody bids are the ones the new joiners get and the African crew choose.
Why the African crew hold them
Because home is on the route. The Sudanese, the Kenyans, the Nigerians, the Ghanaians, the South Africans at Qatar bid the Africa routes for the same reason the Egyptians bid Cairo: the family at the airport on the layover, the commute disguised as a duty, the food. And because the African crew know the cities and the passengers in a way the European crew do not, and the pursers notice.
The passengers
The Africa flights are the diaspora going home, the business travellers between the Gulf and the African capitals, the pilgrims on the Hajj season routes, the students, the families with the enormous bags. Warm, loud, generous, and demanding in a specific way about the meal and the bags. The crew who love the Africa routes are the ones who love those passengers.
The layovers, honestly
Tessa's KLM Africa thread has the security reality and it applies: the briefing is the rule, the hotel drivers are the transport, and inside the briefing the African layovers are among the best on the network. Cape Town is the crew favourite at every airline that flies there. Nairobi's park is a safari on a day off. Zanzibar is the beach. Lagos is rest and the best jollof argument on the network.
For the African applicants at the Doha events
The Africa network is your network. The recruiters know the African crew hold the Africa routes and they hire for it. Say in the interview that you know the cities. It is true and it is noticed.
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#2 Emirates purser, from Nairobi, and the Emirates Africa network is the same story: the African crew hold the Africa routes, the pursers notice, the family at the airport on the Nairobi layover. Ibrahim has the Qatar version and it is the same map from a different hub.
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#3 Ghana, and the Accra flight from Doha is the one the Ghanaian crew at Qatar bid every month. The jollof argument is conducted on the crew bus from the airport. Ibrahim knows.
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#4 Emirates from Cape Town, and Cape Town being the crew favourite at every airline that flies there is true and slightly embarrassing for a Capetonian. We know. It is a good city. The security briefing is still real.
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#5 KLM, and the Africa network from Doha being a third of a roster is bigger than ours from Amsterdam. The African crew holding it for the commute is the thing every hub shares. Good to have the Doha version.
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#6 Nigeria, applying to Qatar, and 'say in the interview that you know the cities' is the line I will use. Lagos is home. The recruiters want that. Thank you for saying it is noticed.
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#7 Nairobi, applying, and the Nairobi route from Doha with the park on a day off is now the image I have of year two. Ibrahim's thread is the answer to the family question for every East African applicant.
