TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
First Qatar to Saudi flight to take off after thaw
Saudi Arabia and its allies the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt in June 2017 slapped a blockade on Qatar that included closing airspace to the country over claims it backed Islamist groups and was too close to Iran.
Change Size
Qatar Airways Airbus A380. Qatar Airways flights from Doha to the U.S. will now follow a strict no-gadgets rule. The only exception? Your phone. (shutterstock.com/Dmitry Birin /File)
A
ir travel between Qatar and Saudi Arabia will resume on Monday, according to the countries' airlines, a major landmark as Doha's former rivals normalise ties under a landmark agreement.
Saudi Arabia and its allies the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt in June 2017 slapped a blockade on Qatar that included closing airspace to the country over claims it backed Islamist groups and was too close to Iran.
Qatar always denied the charges.
The quartet agreed to lift the restrictions at a Gulf Cooperation Council summit last week in the Saudi desert city of Al-Ula, after energetic diplomacy by outgoing US President Donald Trump's administration.
The first commercial flight between Qatar and Saudi in three and a half years, a Qatar Airways service to Riyadh, will take off from Doha at 1045 GMT and touch down at 1210 GMT, according to the airline's timetable.
Saudi Airlines will fly from Riyadh to Doha, departing the kingdom at 1340 GMT according to its online schedule, with services from Jeddah expected to start at a later date.
The New York Times had reported that Qatar has been paying in excess of $100 million annually to use Iran's airspace to bypass Saudi Arabia.
