1st Qatari plane in Egypt since reconciliation deal

ISTANBUL (AA) - The first Qatar Airways flight took off from Doha to Cairo on Monday following a reconciliation deal to settle a more than three-year dispute between Qatar and Egypt.

Local media, citing unnamed sources at Cairo Airport, said that a Qatari plane numbered QR1301 arrived in Cairo, carrying about 100 passengers.

“The Qatari flight QR1032 is scheduled to leave Cairo Airport on the way back to Doha at 8 pm tonight — 18 GMT — with 120 passengers on board,” it added.

On Monday evening, Cairo Airport received the first regular Egyptian flights coming from Doha with 91 passengers on board.

The flight took off in the morning carrying 38 passengers on board as sources in Egypt said early on Monday that four flights will be operated daily between Cairo and Doha.

No remarks were made by Doha side regarding the number of flights.

On Jan. 12, Egypt reopened its airspace to Qatari flights after Egypt, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, signed a reconciliation deal during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit on Jan. 5 to resolve their crisis with Doha.

Flights between Saudi Arabia and Qatar have already resumed while the UAE and Bahrain also announced reopening their airspaces to Qatari flights.

During the Saudi-led blockade, Qatar was forced to direct most of its flights towards Iranian airspace in exchange for millions of dollars in transit fees.

*Ibrahim Mukhtar contributed to this report from Ankara