Qatar Airways to seek compensation for 'illegal' airspace blockade
Jul 16, 2020
Doha [Qatar], July 16 : Qatar Airways has said it will seek appropriate compensation for losses sustained from an "illegal airspace blockade" imposed since 2017 by four Middle East nations.
The announcement comes a day after International Court of Justice (ICJ) passed a judgement affirming that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council has the jurisdiction to hear any disagreement relating to the interpretation and implementation of the Chicago Convention 1944 and the International Air Services Transit Agreement.
"In line with the ruling of the ICJ and the legal precedent allowing the State of Qatar to continue its case at ICAO against the blockading States, Qatar Airways will pursue its case for appropriate compensation of the financial injuries inflicted on Qatar Airways as a result of the illegal airspace blockade," Qatar Airways said in a statement.
"The arbitrary and abusive measures that these four States have taken against us have devastated our carefully planned decades-long programme for investment and growth in those countries; they have arbitrarily prevented us from serving hundreds of thousands of passengers, and transporting tens of thousands of tons of cargo to and from each of these countries annually," it added.
At Qatar Airways, we firmly believe that travel is a right for all and that this world is all of ours to explore. Qatar Airways will pursue all available legal remedies to secure full compensation to protect our rights and the rights of our customers.
Saudi Arabia along with Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates snapped diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar in 2017, accusing it, among other things, of forging close relations with Iran.
