Saudi Arabia revokes Qatar Airways licence
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia yesterday revoked the operating licence of Qatar Airways and ordered the airline’s offices to close within 48 hours, state media reported, as a regional diplomatic crisis escalated.
“The General Authority of Civil Aviation has decided to cancel all licences granted to Qatar Airways and to close all of its offices in the kingdom within 48 hours,” a statement carried by the official SPA news agency said.
“We urge all passengers who purchased tickets to or from Qatar to check the airline website or contact their travel agent online for a refund,” the statement added.
Saudi Arabia has also closed its border with Qatar, effectively blocking food imports and a segment of the country’s exports over what Riyadh says is Doha’s support for extremism.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt announced the suspension of all flights to and from Qatar as of yesterday morning.
Hours later, Qatar Airways, which flies to nine cities in Saudi Arabia alone, announced it had suspended all flights to Saudi Arabai, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt in the wake of the diplomatic boycott.
Meanwhile, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is in talks to bring back Pakistani passengers of Qatar Airlines stranded in Doha.
The Pakistani passengers were supposed to fly to Saudi Arabia via Doha to perform Umrah, a religious ritual, at Mecca.
“There are two options for PIA. Either take them from Doha to Jeddah, and for that we will be needing Saudi government permission. Or the second is to bring them back to Pakistan and take them to Saudi Arabia,” Mashhood Tajwar, spokesman for the national carrier, told Reuters in Karachi yesterday.
Tajwar said the number of stranded Pakistani passengers was not clear because they were customers of Qatar Airways, but PIA was in contact with the Pakistani embassy in Doha to get details.