Air travel chaos on way as countries cut ties with Qatar over Islamist links

The operations of Qatar Airways, which operates a daily flight to Perth from Doha, are expected to be thrown into disarray by the closing of air corridors by its neighbours in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt closed their air and sea borders with Qatar and gave its citizens 14 days to leave, over its alleged links to terrorism in the region.

The Saudi Press Agency said: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken this decision as a result of the serious and systematic violations committed by the authorities in Doha over the past years with the aim of creating strife among Saudi internal ranks, undermining its sovereignty and embracing various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilising the region.”

The UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have all announced full support for the Saudi stance with similar actions.

Flights to Australia and Asia are expected to be severely disrupted as they fly over the UAE and will now require lengthy diversions over Iran, which will make some unviable, while others will lose passenger capacity.

Also, many Qatar Airways flights to other Middle East countries operate through Saudi air space and this will be denied.

It is not yet clear exactly the extent of the impact and comment is being sought from Qatar Airways.

Combined with the US laptop ban it is likely that travellers will avoid travel on Qatar Airways and, quite possibly, other airlines in the region.

The UAE’s state news agency WAM reported the cutting of ties and gave diplomats 48 hours to leave citing their “support, funding and embrace of terrorist, extremist and sectarian organisations”.

Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad said it was suspending flights to Qatar.

In a Twitter post this afternoon, Etihad said all customers booked on flights into or out of Doha are being provided with alternative options, including full refunds on unused tickets and free rebooking to the nearest alternative Etihad destinations.