Qatar Airways clasps huge lost in revenue after Mideast diplomatic crisis
June 6, 2017- RIYADH
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain has revoked the licenses of Qatar Airways and also has threatened the offices to be closed by next 48 hours after banning all Qatari planes from landing at its airports resulting millions of dollars in lost revenue to Qatar Airlines.
Government of Saudi and Bahrain move was followed into coordinated action on Monday by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to cut links with Qatar, accusing the country of supporting terrorism.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) also noted in a statement that any licenses granted to Qatar Airways employees would also be withdrawn soon.
Analysts explaining that, falling out the flights cancelation from Saudi Arabia’s has resulted huge millions of dollars in lost revenue to Qatar Airlines.
“The revoking of the license suggests that this spat will be a long and drawn out. You don’t revoke licenses if you expect a resolution quickly,” Saj Ahmad, the U.K.-based chief analyst at Strategic Aero Research, said.
Saudi Arabia’s aviation authority said customers seeking adjustments on tickets to or from Qatar should communicate with the company by phone or through its website.
Dozens of people were crowded into the Qatar Airways office in central Riyadh on Tuesday morning, asking for refunds or to be re-booked on flights with other airlines.
The suspension of flights comes three weeks before the start of the Eid holiday week, a popular time for travel in the Gulf.
Qatar Airways said on its website it had arranged three chartered Oman Air flights to transport passengers from Jeddah to Muscat on Tuesday. A connecting Qatar Airways flight would then take them onwards to Doha.
The airline also canceled flights to Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, the day after it had suspended flights to Saudi Arabia.
