British Airways also fly from Dubai direct from Edinburgh, in this day and age, a direct ticket is well known to often involve a stop or aircraft change. it has never meant the same as non stop. Unless we know how many tickets have been gifted, there's no possible way of quantifying what impact it might have. Is it 1/10/1000/10,000/100,000?
I completely disagree. In no terms can Qatar Airways’ flights from Edinburgh to Dubai or Hong Kong be classed as “direct”. The only “direct” route Qatar offer from EGPH is to Doha, everything else is an onward connection. Sure you can book a through ticket to Dubai, Hong Kong and other destinations but under no interpretation or the word “direct” can changing flights at an intermediate point such as a hub airport be classed as a “direct” flight.