Qatar Airways struggles to rebound in China with post-COVID labor shortages

Jack Dutton

May 23, 2023

Qatari men walk next to a Qatar Airways cargo airplane on the tarmac of Hamad International Airport near the capital Doha, as the first commercial flight to Saudi Arabia in three and a half years following a Gulf diplomatic thaw prepares to take off, on January 11, 2021. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images) — Qatari men walk next to a Qatar Airways cargo airplane on the tarmac of Hamad International Airport near the capital Doha, as the first commercial flight to Saudi Arabia in three and a half years following a Gulf diplomatic thaw prepares to take off, on January 11, 2021. — KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images

The chief executive officer of Qatar Airways said on Tuesday it has been “difficult” to ramp up the airline’s business in China again following the COVID-19 pandemic due to labor shortages following the country’s long and strict lockdowns to contain the virus.

China had one of the world's strictest lockdowns as part of its zero-COVID strategy and the country only reopened its borders in January 2023 after three years of restrictions. Most countries ended all of their COVID rules in 2022.

In an interview with Bloomberg at the Qatar Economic Forum, Akbar Al Baker said that his airline was seeing a huge demand for travel post-pandemic but a “massive shortage” of capacity due to a lack of labor and new aircraft deliveries due to supply chain issues.

Asked what routes were most important to Qatar Airways to bounce back, Baker said, “A lot of routes that we had reduced because of capacity restraints and downfall in demand due to COVID. However, now that we are ramping up, we are introducing new routes in Europe, in Africa, in Asia and of course going back big time into China.”