Some carriers suspend routes into Doha after Gulf diplomatic row

June 5, 2017

Airlines have suspended routes to and from Qatar after a diplomatic row has wreaked havoc with services of long-haul carriers.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain have cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar and closed their airspace.

Qatar Airways said on its website today that is has stopped flights to Saudi Arabia, where it services nine cities, and Qatar’s flag carrier is also likely to have to stop routes to places like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Cairo.

Emirates, flydubai and Etihad Airways are suspending all flights to and from Doha, starting tomorrow morning. Air Arabia, a Sharjah-based carrier is also suspending flights from tomorrow. Emirates and Etihad both operate four services a day.

Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), in a Twitter post, said it had cancelled all flights to Qatar from Monday morning onwards.

Gulf Air, Bahrain’s national carrier, said its daily service between Manama and Doha will be suspended until further notice.

EgyptAir said it will “halt all flights between Egypt and Qatar and close off Egyptian airspace to Qatari aircraft that seek to land or pass through” beginning on Tuesday.

The two main air routes in and out of Qatar are over Saudi Arabia and Bahrain with the latter controlling most of the Gulf airspace.

James Graham

James Graham is an award-winning transport media journalist with a long background in the commercial freight sector, including commercial aviation and the aviation supply chain. He was the initial Air Cargo Week journalist and retuned later for a stint as editor. He continues his association as editor of the monthly supplements. He has reported for the newspaper from global locations as well as the UK.