The Middle East has been recurrently marked by worrying episodes of political instability. Yet again, another chapter was written three years and a half ago when Saudi Arabia announced a land, air, and sea blockade against the state of Qatar over accusations of supporting terrorism, as well as alleging close ties with power-rival Iran. Back in 2017, several countries joined the Saudi initiative and imposed fierce restrictions affecting the country’s capabilities to trade both within and outside its borders.
Because of this, the state-owned company Qatar Airways was largely hit by the Gulf Crisis as the airspace of Bahrain, the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were all shut for Qatari flights overnight, causing the grounding of multiple aircraft as well as the immediate loss of 18 routes. Diplomatic ties were cut alongside and 13 demands, like closing a Turkish military base or shutting down news channel Al-Jazeera, were imposed on Qatar as the only conditions to reverse the situation. All these have put relentless pressure on the country’s stability and have inevitably proved Qatar’s resiliency over the last 3 years.
In a recent twist of the plot, though, an agreement has been reached in the latest Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit that took place in the Saudi city of al-Ula this Tuesday, and through which normality is set to be reinstalled between the once-friendly states. After one year of “constructive and fruitful” talks, the above mentioned Gulf states have signed a “solidarity and stability” deal with the mediation of Kuwait and the US Presidency’s Senior Adviser and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Through this move, Saudi and Qatari airspaces have been reopened, leading airlines of both countries – namely Saudia and Qatar Airways – to resume direct flights between the states. Via Twitter, both carriers have made public the routes that they will add to their operations starting January 11.
Qatar Airways will fly daily to the capital city of Riyadh (starting January 11) and Dammam (January 16), while flying 4 times a week to Jeddah (January 14). The company has also twitted the aircraft types with which it will operate its flights to the kingdom. Those include the B777-300, the B787-800, and the A350-900. The airline also has said that it “looks forward to resuming a strong relationship with our trade and cargo partners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as the major airports in the country.”
Saudia is also set to fly to Doha from Jeddah and Riyadh as of Monday. Moreover, the flag carrier seized the opportunity to remind that the resumption of all international flight operations is expected on March 31.
During the air blockade, Kyle Baley, an aviation analyst reminded Al Jazeera that “the diversions of Qatar Airways’ aircraft would cost, on average, about 25 minutes (extra),” ultimately contributing to a costlier fuel bill and therefore having a significant impact in the airline’s profitability. And although the carrier sought $5bn in compensation for the effects of the blockade. Under the deal, all lawsuits derived from the blockade will result in no-effect, officials have said. There’s no doubt that this concession is a step forward in resolving the long-running dispute in the area.
