On January 13, 2021, Qatar Airways announced that it would resume flights to Egypt from January 18, as the country opened its airspace to Qatar-registered aircraft on January 12, 2021.
Qatar Airways will operate daily services to Cairo from January 18, 2021, and twice-weekly services to Alexandria from January 25, 2021.
#QatarAirways announces it will resume flights to #Egypt, starting with services to #Cairo on 18 January 2021, followed by #Alexandria on 25 January pic.twitter.com/fbEP3WdPf3
— Qatar Airways (@qatarairways) January 13, 2021
The airline will return to Egypt after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have restored diplomatic relations with Qatar during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in early-January 2021.
On January 4, 2021, Saudi Arabia and Qatar agreed to re-open airspace, sea and land borders for the first time after a threeyear long blockade. The sanctions on Qatari aircraft, known as the Gulf Blockade, were imposed after Qatar was accused of supporting terrorism by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain as well as Egypt in June 2017.
Qatar Airways demanded financial compensation from the four blockading states in July 2020. The claim was based on ICAO airspace agreements that have been signed in the past. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in favor of Qatar in the Gulf airspace blockade dispute.
