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UN body rules in favor of expanding Qatari airspace

The judgment by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) comes six months after GCC summit ending three year embargo of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.
A Qatar Airways Airbus A350 airplane takes off from Hamad International Airport.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations body, has given preliminary support to Qatar's quest to gain control of its airspace just months after the Gulf state mended ties with its neighbors following a yearslong rift. Doha would have control of two new regions known as the Doha Flight Information Region (FIR) along with an additional Doha Search and Rescue Region (SRR). Qatar had previously ceded control of its airspace to neighboring Bahrain under a bilateral agreement.

Concluding the 223rd session of the ICAO Council on June 29, the official statement said it has agreed “in principle” to the new mapping of the skies. Having taken three years to assess Qatar’s request, the ICAO certified that the new “flight information region” over its sovereign territory and contiguous airspace was consistent with the Chicago Convention.

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