MIDDLE EAST. Airports, airlines and passengers travelling in the Gulf region are facing severe disruption in the wake of a major diplomatic row.
Hamad International Airport in Doha is experiencing major flight diversions and delays as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt closed their airspace to the Qatar’s flag carrier Qatar Airways yesterday (6 June).
Saudi Arabia has revoked Qatar Airways’ licence and ordered the company’s Saudi offices to shut within 48 hours. Qatar Airways in turn has suspended all its flights to Saudi Arabia, but has not yet said what its plans are for the other countries involved in the dispute.
As reported, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways and Dubai’s Emirates have suspended all flights to and from Doha. Both carriers operate four daily return flights to Doha.
Flydubai and Air Arabia are also cancelling routes to Doha, with other airlines, including Bahrain’s Gulf Air and Egyptair expected to follow suit.
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Yemen and Libya accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism by backing militant groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaeda, as well as the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
Qatar said the decision to cut ties was “unjustified and based on false and baseless claims”. The country has said it is “receptive to dialogue” after Kuwait, which is not involved in the dispute, offered to mediate talks aimed at resolving the diplomatic crisis.
However, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have said that diplomatic and economic relations would not be restored until Qatar breaks all links with the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Iran.
The flight suspensions mean that passenger traffic at airports in the countries involved will be impacted. When questioned by The Moodie Davitt Report, Dubai Airports declined to respond but to give some indication, Doha was Dubai International’s second biggest city destination in April, with 290,524 passengers.
