Qatar Airways suspends flights to 22 cities
Dhaka: Qatar Airways has suspended services to 22 cities worldwide as the ongoing war in Iran and its far-reaching consequences continue to disrupt regional aviation, prompting airlines across the board to scale back operations.
Four European destinations — Malta, Sarajevo, Sofia, and Venice — are currently off the carrier's schedule. Services to Malta, Sofia, and Venice are expected to resume in mid-September, while all future flights to Sarajevo have been removed, with no confirmed return date.
Eight destinations across Asia-Pacific and Africa have also been dropped from Qatar's schedule: Canberra, Cebu, Djibouti, Kano, Kigali, Mogadishu, Nagpur, and Zanzibar. Flights to all eight are expected to resume in September.
Canberra will resume as a daily tag-on service via Melbourne, operated by the Boeing 777-300ER. Zanzibar will see a daily Boeing 787-8, while Kano and Cebu will also be served by the variant. Cebu will be tagged with Davao on a triangular routing.
Ten Middle Eastern destinations are additionally suspended: Aleppo, Gassim, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, Mashhad, Neom Bay, Shiraz, Tabuk, Taif, Tehran, and Yanbu. The three Iranian cities cannot be served, as the country's airspace remains closed.
All future flights to Aleppo have also been removed, while the remaining suspensions — barring Iran — are tentatively scheduled to lift in mid-September with A320ceo aircraft.
Despite the disruptions, Qatar Airways confirmed a new route to Bogotá and Caracas and announced its return to Helsinki and Tokyo Haneda. Its grounded Airbus A380 fleet is also set to return to service next month.
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