Qatar Airspace

smurfjed

It will be interesting to see how this latest dispute turns out,  but as that little piece of airspace from Bahrain down beside Qatar then into the UAE is extremely busy, if any of these countries close that airspace to their neighbouring airlines, I would expect to see significant delays.

notharrypotter

smurfjed wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how this latest dispute turns out, but as that little piece of airspace from Bahrain down beside Qatar then into the UAE is extremely busy, if any of these countries close that airspace to their neighbouring airlines, I would expect to see significant delays.

Link to aip or map if you can?
thanks

Foggy43

A spot of political bother I see in that part of the world....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40155829

Manny7

Very unclear here in Doha - EY and EK have cancelled all Doha flights from tomorrow, no one seems sure yet if they (or more importantly Bahrain) will close the airspace as well.

smurfjed

The NOTAMS have started as well, countries are blocking Qatar flights effective midnight tonight.
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif]A0206/17 - FOR FLIGHTS AFFECTED BY NOTAM A0204/17 THE FOLLOWING AWYS ARE [/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif]AVBL: [/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif]1-UT430 OUTBOUND VIA RAGAS [/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif]2-UR659 INBOUND VIA MIDSI. 06 JUN 00:00 2017 UNTIL PERM. CREATED: 05 JUN 11:29[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif]2017[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif]A0205/17 - ALL FLT REGISTERED IN THE STATE OF QATAR ARE NOT AUTHORISED TO [/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif]OVERFLY BAHRAIN AIRSPACE. 06 JUN 00:00 2017 UNTIL PERM. CREATED: 05 JUN 11:22[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif]2017[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif]A0204/17 - NO FLIGHT WILL BE ALLOWED FROM KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN TO STATE OF [/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif]QATAR AND FROM STATE OF QATAR TO KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN. 06 JUN 00:00 2017 UNTIL[/font]
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif]PERM. CREATED: 05 JUN 11:17 2017[/font]

Doltanian

I have a friend due to fly to Ireland in two weeks from Dubai via Qatar using the newly launched Qatar Airways route. I presume this flight won't happen now.

LizT

Doltanian wrote: »

I have a friend due to fly to Ireland in two weeks from Dubai via Qatar using the newly launched Qatar Airways route. I presume this flight won't happen now.

The Qatar airways one from Doha will go ahead (at least I can't see any rests on why not! I'm due to fly on the direct route in a few weeks) but the connecting flight from Dubai to Doha will be cancelled. If the dispute goes on that long.

bkehoe

The Bahrain FIR encompasses the state of Qatar, right? And Jeddah FIR on the south-west side. So Qatari registered aircraft are effectively prevented from any way in or out of the country from midnight; is my interpretation correct?

Doltanian

Imagine if Iran decided to close its airspace to UAE and Saudi Airspace, Emirates would be in trouble for the European and North American routes.

smurfjed

All Saudi aircraft are banned from Iranian airspace anyway, for EK it would be an issue.
@bkehoe, you are correct i theory, but i would expect Qatar to tell them all to F off and route their flights straight into Iranian airspace, this wont resolve all of their routing issues so a permanent solution needs to be found.

J.pilkington

Flightradar24 is interesting today.

Odddly most departures and arrivals don't seem to be delayed (the few I've checked anyway)

duskyjoe

Iran FIR seems to be their escape

flanzer

Have to laugh at the Saudis taking the moral high ground in this

Flying Dublin to Thailand via Doha in September.
Should I be looking at changing airlines?

L1011

September's far enough away that it could all be sorted out. You'd want to make sure you have decent travel insurance that covers airline failure and cancellation - lots of cheap policies are basically personal injury and a few other bits and don't.

If its all still an issue the flights will probably still operate but may require very altered routings - some aren't majorly affected but some are having hours added. This could impact on connection time etc but they'd inform you of that in advance.

I suppose as long as they can still fly over Iran the flight times from Dublin into Doha should be fine,

Might add some time to the Doha bangkok leg though.

Van.Bosch

BrownFinger wrote: »

I suppose as long as they can still fly over Iran the flight times from Dublin into Doha should be fine,

Might add some time to the Doha bangkok leg though.

I suppose the issue though is if a number of their flight schedules are lengthened then it will cause havoc to all routes as the aircraft don't fly the same route each day

Tenger

I remember a good while back reading that the US pulled its trrops in the region out of Saudi Arabia due to diplomatic pressure (and internal Saudi dissent) They were all transferred to Qatar.
So now it emerges that Qatar is aiding Iranian backed terror groups.

"With friends like these.........."

1123heavy

flanzer wrote: »

Have to laugh at the Saudis taking the moral high ground in this

Indeed, it isn't a case of hypocrisy for them though, they do not know the meaning of the word.

It's all to do with which groups you back and whether your neighbours support them too. Back/pay one that all your neighbours commonly hate and you end up in this mess. You need to back the 'right' ones.

As for Iran closing their airspace ... UAE traffic would simply reroute via Saudi and Bahrain airspace with not much extra hassle.

J.pilkington

Tenger wrote: »

I remember a good while back reading that the US pulled its trrops in the region out of Saudi Arabia due to diplomatic pressure (and internal Saudi dissent) They were all transferred to Qatar.
So now it emerges that Qatar is aiding Iranian backed terror groups.

"With friends like these.........."

Qatar has 11k US troops based there, one of the biggest bases in the ME. Judging by Trumps latest tweet he has forgotten this despite referencing it in a positive light only last week!

California Dreamer

Don't believe the hype. Apart from the Saudi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai flights all other flight operations are running on time with zero delays.

No shortages of water, dairy, meat etc.

Blut2

California Dreamer wrote: »

Don't believe the hype. Apart from the Saudi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai flights all other flight operations are running on time with zero delays.

No shortages of water, dairy, meat etc.

Give it a week or two. Almost all of Qatar's perishable goods are shipped in either overland via Saudi or on smaller boats with goods unloaded from large container ships at Jebel Ali, in the UAE.

Most businesses will have a week or two's stock in in advance. Its only after that when the lack of new shipments will be felt.

Given the potential for escalation/ongoing issues I would definitely be taking Qatar Airways up on their offer to rebook on alternative routes if I had a flight booked with them via Doha in the next few weeks.

California Dreamer

Well the panic buying is over and people are going about their lives. I only going on someone living in Doha.

roundymac

http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/qatar-airways-to-go-ahead-with-irish-route-plan-451864.html
They are going ahead with their planned route. Qatar Airways will make how many routes to the ME from Dublin?

L1011

roundymac wrote: »

http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/qatar-airways-to-go-ahead-with-irish-route-plan-451864.html
They are going ahead with their planned route. Qatar Airways will make how many routes to the ME from Dublin?

Four most more than daily. All seem to be doing sufficiently well to keep going

beardybrewer

What are the opinions of people here for those planning travel next year. I read both sides are preparing for a protracted dispute. Would you let that sway your purchase to another airline?

Manny7

beardybrewer wrote: »

What are the opinions of people here for those planning travel next year. I read both sides are preparing for a protracted dispute. Would you let that sway your purchase to another airline?

As someone who lives in Doha, I wouldn't change unless you were flying on to Africa from Doha - most other routes haven't been affected too much. The African routes have to go out over Oman though which adds a lot to the flight time

beardybrewer

I guess I was thinking all things being equal we'd go Singapore Air to avoid any risk of a flight change/cancellation (long-shot). The reality is the flight days will be extra long with an extra stop over. I'm sure the risk won't matter when our travel day is an extra several hours. First world problems.

1123heavy

beardybrewer wrote: »

I guess I was thinking all things being equal we'd go Singapore Air to avoid any risk of a flight change/cancellation (long-shot). The reality is the flight days will be extra long with an extra stop over. I'm sure the risk won't matter when our travel day is an extra several hours. First world problems.

I really wouldn't allow the current "my p**** is bigger than yours" argument going on affect any decisions you were gonna make regarding travel plans. Unless you're taking a route with a massive detour, you likely won't even notice a difference.

The company are still hiring and very much alive. The crew report that everything is running fine other than the unusual flight plans.

Blut2

If theres a huge price difference go with Qatar, you'll probably be fine. But if theres no price difference, or its only a small amount per person, its probably worth picking a different airlline. Even if its only a 5% or less risk of delays/cancellations etc if it costs you nothing or very little to mitigate against its worth doing so.

mocata

Flew to singapore return last week, zero issues. Flight took a 20 min detour to go round dubai and that was it. Afternoon flight from Dub and return at 7am meant zero jet lag. Cant wait to fly again with them, economy wasnt a kick in the arse off some airlines "business" grade