News
Qatar Airways licences revoked by UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
June 9th 2017
The situation in the Gulf keeps deteriorating. After Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday collectively severed all diplomatic ties with Qatar, the later three on Tuesday said they also would be revoking all licences issued to Qatar Airways, forcing the closure of all of the airline’s offices within 48 hours. Read More »
Qatar is being accused of being a state sponsor of Islamic terrorism.
Qatar Airways is no longer allowed to enter the flight information regions (FIRs) of its immediate Gulf neighbours. Qatar does not have its own FIR.
The airline is still operational but all its flights must make major course deviations via Iran (which ironically Qatar is accused of having too-close-for-comfort ties with).
The airspace around Qatar is controlled by Doha Radar up to FL 250 only. Above 25,000 feet, air traffic control rests with Bahrain. As such, inbound and outbound Doha traffic is keeping at or below FL250 upon entering and exiting Iranian airspace.
This means all the airline’s flights to Europe, Africa and North America must head north east first until they enter the Tehran FIR before they can make a right turn toward their destinations. Needless to say, this adds hours of flying time, fuel costs and inconvenience to each flight.
Qatar Airways had to suspend all flights to Abha (2 daily), Abu Dhabi (6 daily), Bahrain (7 daily), Borg el Arab/Alexandria (10 weekly), Cairo (17 weekly), Dammam (5 daily), Dubai al Maktoum (DWC) 4 daily, Dubai International (DXB) 17 daily, Gassim (2 daily), Al Hofuf (5 weekly), Jeddah (4 daily), Luxor (daily), Madinah (3 daily), Ras al Khaimah (4 weekly), Riyadh (24 weekly), Sharjah (2 daily), Taif (daily) and Yanbu (4 weekly).
Air Arabia, Air Cairo, EgyptAir, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Flydubai, Gulf Air and SAUDIA all terminated their flights to Doha.
