Flights from Lagos, Abuja and Kano to Doha, capital of Qatar will be disrupted as the Middle East nation announced temporary shutdown of its airspace due to the on-going conflict between Israel and Iran.
This was confirmed by the Qatari foreign ministry, which stated yesterday that the move was aim ted at ensuring the safety of residents and visitors to the country.
Statement from Qatar Airways which confirmed the closure also added, “Qatar Airways confirms the temporary suspension of its flights due to the closure of air traffic movement in the State of Qatar. The airline is working closely with government stakeholders and the relevant authorities to support impacted passengers, and will resume operations when the airspace reopens. Once usual operations resume, we anticipate significant delays to our flight schedule. We have also deployed additional ground staff at Hamad International Airport and other key airports to assist affected passengers. The safety of our passengers and crew remains our highest priority.
“Qatar Airways will continue to share updates as information becomes available on qatarairways.com or on the Qatar Airways mobile application.”
Qatari government believes that this would constitute strong threat against civilian population and decided to close its airspace.
In the last few years, Doha has grown very fast as a hub, where travellers from all over the world land to connect flights to farther destinations and Qatar Airways has been airlifting many Nigerians from different airports to its hub, the Hamad International Airport, Doha.
Reacting to the new development, the Group Managing Director, Finchglow Holdings, Bankole Bernard, said that Qatar’s shut down of its airspace was expected, but noted that it would affect flights from Nigeria especially flights operated by Qatar Airways.
Bernard said while no official message has been sent from Qatar Airways to travel agencies yet, this was expected as flights would no longer be operated around Qatar’s airspace.
“This will affect flights from Nigeria. We are on the verge of third world war. Qatar Airways have not sent any message to us yet to say they are suspending but I know they would announce soon. A lot of airlines have suspended operations to Qatar.
“Qatar Airways operates daily flights to Lagos and Abuja and operate few weekly flights to Kano. So, it’s a huge passenger traffic that would be affected. Qatar still operated today (yesterday). Qatar is in the Middle East and someone can get on the plane and blow up the plane. So, this is a very tough time to fly,” Bernard said.
In the aforementioned statement, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the closure of its airspace was to ensure the safety of residents and visitors. In a separate statement in response to the embassy notice, the foreign ministry said the warning did “not necessarily reflect the existence of specific threats. The security situation in the country is stable. The relevant authorities are closely monitoring the situation and are ready to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of citizens, residents, and visitors”, the statement said.
Flight tracking websites show planes diverting to other airports following the closure of Qatari airspace. According to Flightradar24, there are 100 flights bound for Doha. Hamad International Airport is one of the world’s top 10 busiest airports on international traffic with around 140,000 passengers passing through per day.
