Qatar Airways faces bans

The operations of Qatar Airways are expected to be thrown into disarray today by the closing of air corridors by its neighbors in the middle east. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt closed their air and sea borders to Qatar and gave its citizens 14 days to leave, over its alleged links to terrorism in the region. The Saudi Press Agency said: "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken this decision as a result of the serious and systematic violations committed by the authorities in Doha over the past years with the aim of creating strife among Saudi internal ranks, undermining its sovereignty and embracing various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilizing the region." The UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt have all announced full support for the Saudi stance with similar actions. Flights to Australia and Asia will be severely disrupted as they fly over the UAE and will now require lengthy diversions over Iran which will make some unviable, while others will lose passenger capacity. Also, many Qatar Airways flights to other middle east countries operate through Saudi air space and this will be denied. Combined with the US laptop ban it is likely that travelers will avoid travel on Qatar Airways and quite possibly other airlines in the region. The UAE’s state news agency WAM reported a cutting of ties and gave diplomats 48 hours to leave, citing “support, funding and embrace of terrorist, extremist and sectarian organizations”. Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad Airways said it was suspending flights to Qatar.  

Qatar has since suspended flights to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt until further notice. "All customers booked on affected flights will be provided with alternative options, including the option of a full refund on any unused tickets and free rebooking to the nearest alternative Qatar Airways network destination,'' the airline said on its website. In terms of flights outside the Middle East, Bahrain is still allowing Qatari aircraft to fly through its airspace but on restricted routes. Qatar has little airspace of its own and is bordered by the Bahrain flight information region (FIR) on three sides and Saudi Arabian airspace to the south. Unlike Saudi, Bahrain and the other countries are signatories to an international agreement governing overflights and this appears to be giving Qatar Airways some room to move. According to Flightradar24, aircraft registered in Qatar entering the Bahrain FIR bound for Qatar must enter at a waypoint called MIDSI to the north and follow route UR659 to Qatar. Aircraft departing Qatar must use route UT430 and exit Bahrain FIR at RAGAS. “Losing Saudi airspace is significant, but even worse would be losing Bahrain airspace since it practically encircles Qatar,’’ the CAPA Centre for Aviation said in an analysis. “Most Qatar Airways flights to Europe can (and prior to the airspace ban, did) track north of Saudi Arabia. “Closing of Saudi airspace requires timely and costly diversions to other Middle East destinations as well as to most of Africa. Losing Saudi, Bahrain and UAE airspace would effectively ground Qatar Airways save for any fifth freedom services.’’