Contrary to Dubai

 By plane

Hamad International Airport (IATA: DOH) is the pri-mary point of entry for most travellers, and is the hub and base for Qatar Airways, which has positioned itself as one of the “Big Three” Middle Eastern airlines. It has built
a far-reaching network, flying to destinations in Europe, South and East Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas.

Contrary to Dubai, the home of Qatar Airways’ archri-val Emirates, Doha is served by much fewer other carri-ers. The major European airlines usually provide a single connection to Doha from their main hubs (e.g. Lufthansa from Frankfurt, KLM from Amsterdam), but minor ones do not. Pretty much all airlines of the Middle East, Turkey included (but not Israel), provide connections to Doha. Relatively few Asian airlines do so, however, with the exception of a relatively good choice of connections to India and Pakistan. The only American carrier to fly directly from America to Doha is United Airlines (from Washington Dulles).

Qatar Airways has also become a member of the oneworld alliance (which includes e.g. British Airways), and an increasing number of their connections are also on offer as codeshare flights by oneworld members.

Hamad International Airport became fully operational on 27 May 2014, replacing the overcrowded Doha Interna-tional Airport.

If you're arriving from outside of the Persian Gulf re-gion, probably the most economical way to visit is to use Qatar as an intermediate stopover en route to another des-tination. Prices of tickets originating in or terminating in Doha are artificially high because of limited competi-tion, while prices for transit tickets are very competitive, as Qatar Airways continues working to build Doha as a global transit hub.

The cheapest method to reach Doha from within the Per-sian Gulf region is with local budget carriers, such as FlyDubai and Air Arabia, which provide cheap flights with a stopover in Dubai and Sharjah respectively.
Public Wi-Fi is provided free of charge throughout the airport.