The state of Qatar has restricted flight movements through its airspace, affecting aircraft departing from Doha Hamad International Airport and planes routing through its airspace that have departed from an airport in Saudi Arabia.
The restrictions were sent out to airlines in the form of a Notice to Airmen or NOTAM for short, which is an internationally recognised system that alerts pilots to potential hazards and other airspace and airport changes.
Two NOTAMs were issued by Qatar’s Civil Aviation Authority on June 7, the first notifying pilots that Qatari airspace was partially closed, and the second alerting pilots of alternative routes through its airspace.
Local officials have not provided the reason for these NOTAMs being issued, but they came just hours after Iran vowed a “painful” retaliation for Israel hitting targets in Beirut despite Tehran’s warning to the Israelis to halt their campaign in Lebanon.
The NOTAMs come just days after Terminal 1 at Kuwait International Airport was badly damaged in an Iranian missile attack. Tragically, at least one person was killed in the airport attack, which occurred just hours after the terminal had reopened after weeks of repair following another Iranian strike.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed that it didn’t target the airport, but that it had been hit by a malfunctioning Patriot air defense system that was fired to intercept an Iranian barrage of ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones fired towards Kuwait and Bahrain.
The NOTAMs are currently in effect until June 14, suggesting that Qatar is expecting some sort of retaliatory action in the coming days.
Qatar is home to the U.S. Al Udeid air base. It has recently emerged that the command center that runs the American military’s operations in the Middle East took a direct hit by an Iranian missile and was badly damaged in the early days of the joint U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran.
The command center had already been evacuated before the start of the conflict on February 28.
For now, at least, flights continue to operate to and from Doha Hamad International Airport, and Qatar Airways has not commented on the airspace restrictions. The restrictions may, however, cause some delays and disruptions in the days ahead.
Qatar Airways took a very cautious approach to resuming flights when its airspace was initially closed on February 28. Flight operations were suspended for several weeks, and even when they recommenced, only a very limited number of flights were operating.
Surprisingly, the airline faced criticism from disrupted passengers who wanted Qatar Airways to be more like Emirates, which quickly ramped up operations despite continuing missile and drone attacks on Dubai International Airport, including one strike that blew up one of the massive fuel tanks located inside the airfield.
