End Of the Blockade; Qatar Airways Touches Down In Riyadh For First Time In Three Years!

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain & Egypt collectively severed ties with the State of Qatar, citing the country’s alleged support for terrorism and its close ties with Iran. The accusation came with cease of diplomatic and economic ties which also included a land, sea and air transport blockade. Consequently, Qatar Airways, has had to take long diversions to avoid cross with the restricted airspace which has added fuel costs and unnecessary CO2 emissions to its operations. The airline has long admonished the implementation of the blockade, claiming it is illegal and unfounded.

After three and a half years of this continued dispute, all the states have finally agreed to end the blockade which will allow Qatar Airways to restore flights to many hubs in the Middle East, including Jeddah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Manama. 

Accordingly, the airline announced the completion of its first service to Saudi Arabia since the latter ended its blockade, yesterday, by touching down in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia for the first time in three years. From now on the airline is set to operate the route daily on wide-body aircraft including the Airbus A350, Boeing 777-300 and Boeing 787-8. Further to this, later this week, the airline is also scheduled to resume flights to both Jeddah and Dammam. 

Qatar Airways, continues to rebuild its network, which currently stands at over 110 destinations whereas they hope to take the number up to 125 destinations by the end of March 2021.