Qatar Airways has closed its offices in Riyadh, Dubai and the
United Arab Emirates' Sharjah as Qatar's diplomatic crisis with its neighboring
nations persists.
The carrier already has
suspended flights to the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia, its two largest markets
according to the CAPA Centre for Aviation, and has been organizing charter
flights via Oman and Kuwait to accommodate passengers with tickets to Saudi
Arabia. Meanwhile, Qatar has rerouted flights out of the region so they fly over
Iran in order to avoid Saudi and U.A.E. airspace. That change lengthens many of
its flights, according to Al Jazeera.
Both
U.A.E. and Bahrain signed an agreement to allow Qatar access to their airspace
for the purpose of overflying, according to CAPA. Saudi Arabia did not. However,
there is no police force to enforce the agreement, and losing Bahrain's
airspace in particular would be devastating to Qatar Airways, since it largely
surrounds the peninsular nation. "Closing of Saudi airspace requires timely
and costly diversions to other Middle East destinations, as well as to most of
Africa," CAPA wrote in an analysis piece. "Losing Saudi, Bahrain and
U.A.E. airspace would effectively ground Qatar Airways."