Qatar Airways adds additional Edinburgh flights – and some other niche routes

Qatar Airways has announced that it will increase services to Edinburgh to 14 per week during next Summer.

The current total of 10 flights per week will be increased to double-daily between July and October.  The additional flights will also use an A350.

The airline has also announced two more niche routes – Santorini, from 20th May, and Dubrovnik, from 20th April.  These routes will be operated by an Airbus A320, featuring 12 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 132 seats in Economy Class.

If you look at the list of other European cities where Qatar Airways is increasing capacity to Doha, it looks very bullish:

• Adana will increase from three to five weekly flights
• Antalya will increase from three to five weekly flights
• Athens will increase from three to four daily flights
• Belgrade will increase from seven to 10 weekly flights
• Bodrum will increase from three to five weekly flights
• Edinburgh will increase from 10 to 14 weekly flights
• Oslo will increase from 10 to 14 weekly flights
• Venice will increase from seven to 11 weekly flights
• Warsaw will increase from 14 to 18 weekly flights
• Zurich will increase from 14 to 18 weekly flights

Most of the above will use long-haul aircraft.  However, I’ve been impressed by the Qatar Airways strategy of using A320 aircraft to feed traffic into Doha from smaller airports. 

You would imagine that there are many regional airports in the UK which could support a daily A320 to Doha (assuming they bought the new long range variant) from where passengers could connect onwards.

You get a flat bed for the A320 flight and, whilst it obviously isn’t Qsuite, I think enough people would be willing to make the trade off if it meant flying direct from their local airport.

Remember that Qatar Airways flights earn Avios and British Airways Executive Club tier points.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.