American Airlines temporarily suspended its nonstop route to Doha when the war broke out, and confirmed its permanent cancellation in June. American first began serving Doha, its only Middle Eastern destination at the time, in 2022 from New York JFK Airport (PHL) and then switched its US port to Philadelphia the following year. The main reason for the route was connectivity with fellow oneworld member Qatar Airways.
Qatar Airways formerly flew to Philadelphia with its own aircraft before American took over the route, and as the two have a codeshare agreement, the route essentially continued with an American Boeing 787. At the same time, Qatar Airways added a third nonstop frequency between Doha and JFK that would operate four times per week, bringing weekly frequencies to JFK from 14 to 18 flights per week. In August, Qatar Airways began daily flights between Doha and Philadelphia with an Airbus A350, while it will be ending its third JFK flight at the end of October.
Qatar Airways now serves 12 destinations in the US: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York-JFK, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington. It is notably the only Middle Eastern airline serving Philadelphia, and the airport is important because it serves as American's primary transatlantic hub, with a substantial connecting network to feed these flights. The Philadelphia-Doha flight therefore essentially functions as a long-haul hub-to-hub flight, regardless of which airline operates it.
