Hans Zimmer's Burgundy Symphony: Qatar Airways' New Boarding Music, and All the Ones Before It

The short version: Qatar Airways has new onboard music, and it is by Hans Zimmer, the composer of Gladiator, Interstellar and Dune. You can hear it on board from 6 November 2026. It comes from an album called Burgundy Symphony. We are big fans of every piece of boarding music this airline has played, so further down you will find the full long play, the theme before it and the names behind the older ones.

What Qatar Airways announced

Qatar Airways and Hans Zimmer first announced their partnership in July 2025. On 6 November 2026 the airline unveiled the result at Zimmer's concert in Doha, where the audience saw a film about how the music was made and heard a preview. Passengers get the new music on board from the same day.

The airline says the music is inspired by Qatar and its culture, and that it should give Qatar Airways a sound people recognise.

Listen to the whole album

On 7 November 2026 Qatar Airways published the full long play on YouTube. It runs 29 minutes 38 seconds. The first almost ten minutes are what the airline labels as its boarding music, and the five tracks follow.

The five tracks of Burgundy Symphony

Each track stands for a stage of a journey. The times show where it starts in the long play:

• Dawn (9:52): the anticipation of stepping out of your routine and towards somewhere new.
• Dusk (13:47): the calm of flight as the daylight fades and you cruise above the clouds under the stars.
• Homecoming (17:45): the quiet gift of coming home, and what a trip leaves with you after touchdown.
• The Orchard (21:48): a restorative pause, inspired by the ORCHARD, the indoor garden at Hamad International Airport in Doha.
• An Ode to Qatar (25:36): the closing tribute to the country's heritage and its forward-looking ambition.

What the announcement does not say

• What happens to The Ascent, the boarding music Qatar Airways has played since 2023.
• When the album reaches other streaming services. The July 2025 announcement promised that, and the new release only points to YouTube.

The theme before it: The Ascent (2023)

The Ascent by Dana Al Fardan arrived in September 2023 as the third part of her trilogy, performed by members of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. It mixes Arabic instruments such as the ney and the rababa with piano, violin, viola and cello. All three parts came out together that month on the EP Trilogy of The Ascent.

We are big fans of all of them

A boarding theme is a small thing, but it is the first thing you hear on board, and after enough flights it stays with you. We love every one of them. We found no official list from the airline, so the years below come from releases and the earliest uploads we could find. Where a title or a name comes from a fan and not from the airline, we say so.

• Exotic Journeys by Andy Clark and Paul Dunmall. Named by a fan, not by the airline.
• Betlomouny Leh by Amr Ismael, listed for 2013 to 2015. Named by a YouTube channel, not by the airline.
• Qatar Airways Onboard Music by Marco Iodice, 2016. Official release.
• The Awakening by Dana Al Fardan, 2017. The airline's clip names the composer. The title comes from matching the recordings.
• The Dawn by Dana Al Fardan, around 2022.

Verified 7 November 2026. Sources: Qatar Airways press release of 6 November 2026; the long play's description on YouTube (Qatar Airways, 7 November 2026); Qatar Tribune, 24 July 2025 (partnership); The Peninsula, 23 September 2017; The Peninsula, 5 September 2023; YouTube descriptions of the older recordings and releases.