Bahrain, UAE reopen airspace to Qatari flights

By Ahmed Hatem
ISTANBUL (AA) – Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reopened airspace to Qatar as of Monday for the first time since 2017, following an agreement to heal their rift.

In a statement issued late Sunday, Bahrain’s Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications said Qatar-registered flights will be allowed to cross through the country’s airspace.

The Director General of the UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority, Saif Mohammed Al-Suwaidi, also said previous measures that prevented Qatari aircraft from using the Gulf state’s airspace have been cancelled.

He confirmed that a Qatari flight arriving from Australia's Melbourne crossed over the UAE airspace en route to Doha.

Last week, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt signed a reconciliation deal with Qatar during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in the Saudi city of al-Ula.

The agreement signaled an end to a Saudi-led blockade imposed on Qatar since 2017 on accusations of supporting terrorist group, a claim vehemently denied by Doha.

Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara