By Akram Medhat
The Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a decision suspending all flights between Egypt and Qatar and closing the airspace to Qatari aircraft registered with the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, whether for overflight or landing.
Bassem Abdel Karim, media adviser to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, said in a ministry statement today that the decision takes effect from tomorrow, Tuesday, June 6, at 4:00 a.m. GMT, which is 6:00 a.m. Cairo time, indefinitely.
Qatar Airways had been operating its flights from the new Passenger Terminal 2 at Cairo International Airport since February 27, instead of the old Terminal 1.
The decision comes after the government of the Arab Republic of Egypt announced this morning that it was severing diplomatic relations between Egypt and Qatar.
Qatari Tourism in Egypt
It is worth noting that tourist traffic from Qatar is among the lowest of the Arab markets. According to tourism statistics obtained exclusively by “Travel Yalla News,” the number of Qataris entering Egypt from January to April 2017 reached about 7,800 tourists, up 11%, spending 50,000 tourist nights, down 8% from the same period last year.
Qatari tourism was the only market on the list of Arab markets to record a decline last April, with 2,500 tourists arriving, down 8%, although it improved on March, which saw 1,600 tourists, while Qatari tourist nights reached 14,000, up 48%.
