The World Cup kicks off in Qatar on November 20th. The hosts’ national team meets Ecuador in the opening game.
Then it will be seen whether all the preparations in the desert state are sufficient to withstand the onslaught of fans. Even before that, some measures will come into force that will affect both the travel and aviation industries.
The country with 2.7 million inhabitants is practically suspending entry for normal visitors from November 1st to December 23rd.
During this period, only Qatari citizens or holders of the country’s official ID will be allowed to cross the border by land, sea or air.
Certain visa holders who are essential to sustaining the country’s economy and a limited number of people on humanitarian missions are also allowed to enter.
The only other exception applies to visitors who have already secured a ticket for a World Cup match. You must also apply for a special visa, the so-called Hayya Card. This allows them entry into Qatar, access to the stadiums and free travel on public transport.
Despite the measure, the small state expects more than a million visitors. And that’s getting to be too much for Hamad International Airport, too.
For this reason, the country has reactivated the old international airport, which is currently mainly used by the ruling family and private jets.
Doha International Airport’s departure terminal is designed to handle 2,000 departing passengers per hour. It has 83 check-in counters, 52 customs counters and 22 gates. Around 150,000 people are expected to arrive daily during the peak weeks of the tournament.
The new international airport will also start operating the next phase of the expansion project next month. It can then serve 58 million passengers a year.
Because not all fans can stay overnight in Qatar, there will be several daily shuttle flights from neighboring countries. For example from Kuwait, Muscat in Oman, Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia as well as Dubai and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
A whole armada of airlines helps with this. In addition to Qatar Airways, it participates in the shuttle flights Air Arabia, Flydubai, Jazeera Airways, Kuwait Airlines, Oman Air and Saudia.
However, Qatar’s national airline is also being forced to adjust its flight schedule so that the shuttle flights can take place. A total of seven percent of Qatar Airways’ normal flight schedule will not take place.
This article was written by Laura Frommberg
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The original for this article “Travel madness at World Cup: Fans are flown to other countries to sleep” comes from aeroTelegraph.
