Egypt reopening airspace to Qatar after 3½-year row
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have already announced the end of their bans on flights from Qatar.
Egypt reopened its airspace to flights from Qatar, state media reported Tuesday, in a further easing of its row with the Gulf state.
The head of Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority, Ashraf Noweir, told Ahram Online that Egypt had signed off on a request for Qatari aircraft to fly over Egyptian airspace. Noweir added that aviation authorities were waiting on flight schedules from EgyptAir and Qatar Airways.
A Qatar Airways flight will land in Cairo on Friday, airport officials told The Associated Press. The flight would be the first between the two countries since Egypt joined Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in imposing an air, land and sea embargo on Qatar in June 2017. The Saudi-led bloc also severed diplomatic relations with the gas-rich country, accusing it of funding terrorism and backing its regional rival Iran.
Qatar denied the allegations and refused to comply with the quartet’s 13 conditions for lifting the 3½-year blockade, including cutting ties with Iran and shutting down the Qatari-funded Al Jazeera TV network.
