The 2022 FIFA World Cup gets underway in Qatar from November 20 to December 18 this year. Here’s what operators need to know about slots, permits, and ground handling in Doha.

Airport Slots

Slots are in high demand for the World Cup and distribution will be arranged as follows:

All scheduled services and additional scheduled services will be accommodated at Hamad International Airport (IATA: DOH, ICAO: OTHH)
Charter services will be accommodated at either Hamad International Airport (OTHH) or Doha International Airport (IATA: DIA, ICAO: OTBD) subject to slot availability
GA / BA services will be accommodated primarily at Doha International Airport
State and VVIP services will be accommodated at either Hamad International Airport (OTHH) or Doha International Airport (OTBD)
Maximum ground time allowed for narrow-body aircraft/ICAO Ref: A, B, C (excluding home-based carriers and scheduled services with historical precedence) will be 60 minutes
Maximum ground time allowed for wide-body aircraft/ICAO Ref: D, E, F (excluding home-based carriers and scheduled services with historical precedence) will be 90 minutes

Before applying for slots, please note:

Details of each rotation must be submitted to financeslotbooking@hamadairport.com.qa in the correct prescribed format
A Slot Booking Deposit of 5,000 USD is required in order to apply for and secure slots. Click here for full details.

For more information, visit the Qatar Slot Coordination website here.

Applying for Doha slots and permits from October 30—December 25:

Slot Booking Deposit per flight Slot Booking Deposit Number

To apply for the SBDN, operators must fill in this form and address it to financeslotbooking@hamadairport.com.qa CC’ing generalaviation@qataraviation.com and slots@qatarcoordination.com.qa
5,000 USD must be provided per flight rotation (one arrival and one departure) as a slot-booking Deposit. This amount will be deducted from the final airport charges invoice or released to the operator in case of flight cancelation.
SBDN should be referred as SI information while applying for the slot clearance and the Slot Booking Deposit must be arranged in advance with MATAR finance

Ground Handling Clearance Number per flight Ground Handling Confirmation Number

Operators must include one GHCN per flight (one arrival and one departure) at the SI of their SCR/GCR messages. Operators can get the GHCN after contacting their ground handling agent at generalaviation@qataraviation.com
In order to get the GHCN, operators must share the following:
Confirmed representation services agreement
Confirmed maintenance support agreement
GHCN should be referred to as SI information while applying for the slot clearance i.e. SI GHCN 9999/19-JUN-2020
A confirmed SBDN is a prerequisite to obtaining the GHCN

Applying for Slot Clearance in Doha

From October 30 to December 25 both Hamad International Airport (OTHH) and Doha International Airport (OTBD) will be Level 3 Slot Coordinated Airports
Slot requests must follow the standard IATA’s SSIM formats for SCR/GCR
Using the formats ensures a quicker request process but does not guarantee slot approval
All operations slot requests must be submitted in turnaround format
Requests that do not follow the mentioned SCR/GCR format will be automatically discarded
All requests must include in the SI section the Slot Booking Deposit Number, the Ground handling Confirmation Number and the purpose of the flight. i.e., SI GHCN 9999/19-JUN-2020, SI SBDN 9999/19-JUN-2020, SI FIFAWC22 FANS ENGLAND

Slot conformity and penalties

Slot cancellations or slot revisions will be accepted and handled up to 24 hours prior to the scheduled arrival time in Doha (UTC)
Slot revisions received on the day of operation will be rejected
Slot cancellations received on the day of operation and non-operation of an approved slot (no-show) will be subject to penalties:

100 USD per seat per flight leg for charter passenger flights & loss of the Slot booking fee

20,000 USD per flight for GA/BA flights and loss of the Slot booking fee

30,000 USD per flight for charter cargo flights and loss of the Slot booking fee

Slot violation/misuse for any reason other than the cases described in the exclusions paragraph (2.5.a, 2.5.b) will be subject to penalties:

5,000 USD for arrivals of +/-20 minutes deviation from the approved slot, for flights with a flight time of 5 hours or less

5,000 USD for arrivals of +/-35 minutes deviation from the approved slot, for flights with a flight time of 5 hours 1 minute or more

5,000 USD per flight leg for flights operating with an aircraft type of a higher ICAO category than the one approved

Penalty exemptions

The following exclusions from the penalty implementation apply:

Flights with established historic rights and new schedule requests for the whole FWC 2022 Scheduling Season.
Slot misuse or slot cancellation on the day of operation for reasons outside of the airline’s control, justified subject to one of the following delay codes in accordance to the IATA Aircraft Handling Manual (AHM730) as amended from time to time:

• Damage to aircraft during flight/ground operations	IRR 51, 52
• Adverse Weather	IRR 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77
• Air Traffic Flow Management	IRR 81, 82, 83, 84, 88, 89, 87
• Industrial action outside of the airline	IRR 98
• Mandatory Security	IRR 85, 86

For more information on slot requests, conformity, and penalties, click here.

Landing/traffic rights clearance

Requests for nonscheduled flights must be submitted at least 72 hours before the intended flight
Operators must submit requests to the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority at comm@caa.gov.qa; doha.ais@caa.gov.qa; schedules@caa.gov.qa; Rakesh.Attavar@caa.gov.qa cc’ing slots@qatarcoordination.com.qa and generalaviation@qataraviation.com

Flight Plans

Operators must file flight plans matching the slot approved as per below:

FIELD 18 – RMK/ASLOTHHASKV013000
ASL = Airport Slot
SKV0130 = Flight number or Slot ID

The following flights are exempt:

Seasonal schedule with historical precedence
Military flights
Diplomatic flights
VVIP (Any person invited by the State of Qatar
Search and Rescue
Emergency flights

Additional resources:

For MATAR inquiries, click here.
For the Local Rules in effect, click here.
For Airport charges, click here.

Parking

There will be no parking available for private jets in Qatar. UAS can advise you on the best neighboring places to park.

For information on what operators and visitors need to know about Qatar entry requirements, COVID-19 health screening, and Hayya cards for passengers and crew, visit our blog:

Entry Requirements for Qatar World Cup 2022

For support with your World Cup operations to Qatar, contact UAS