“Qatar’s unexpected request has led to a 17% increase in air traffic,” Ali Abedzadeh was also reported as saying in a CAO press release posted on its website.
“It is a very difficult task to respond to a request of this size at short notice,” he said, adding that Iran managed to do just that given the “capacity-making” carried out in the past months.
Qatar Airways, a big international carrier, was unable to fly over Bahrain, the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia as of Monday last week, when the Saudi allies cut all economic and diplomatic ties over Doha’s alleged support for terrorism, a claim vehemently rejected by Qatari officials.
