Qatar Airways brings Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Zagreb for special October flights

Passengers flying between Doha and Zagreb will get a taste of Qatar Airways’ long-haul product this autumn, with the carrier planning to deploy its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on selected services to the Croatian capital. The widebody is scheduled to operate the route on October 3, 12, and 23, 2026.

Nearly double the seats

Qatar Airways normally serves Zagreb with its 132-seat Airbus A320, but the Boeing 787-8 seats 254 passengers — almost doubling the number available on the selected flights. The Dreamliner is configured with 22 Business Class seats and 232 in Economy, offering a considerably different experience from the narrowbody A320 and adding more than 120 seats on each of the scheduled Dreamliner services.

There is a further bonus for travellers: the 787-8 aircraft operating these flights are fitted with Starlink connectivity, giving passengers high-speed internet access in the air.

A brief appearance

The widebody’s appearances will be short-lived. The 787 is currently planned for just three dates in October rather than a permanent switch, so travellers hoping to fly the Dreamliner on the route will need to time their bookings to those days. As always with such assignments, last-minute equipment swaps and schedule changes remain possible.

Why the upgrade

The deployment fits a wider pattern. Qatar Airways has periodically rostered widebody jets on the Zagreb sector, a route it primarily uses to feed transfer traffic through its Doha hub toward destinations in Australia and Asia. Such capacity boosts have also been shaped by a shortage of narrowbody aircraft that has affected several routes across the airline’s network, making larger jets a practical way to add seats on selected days while the fleet situation is managed.