Historic ! Operational Agreements on Activating Doha Flight Information Region (FIR) effective Sept. 8 has been Signed !

On wednesday , the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) signed the operational agreement with each of the neighbouring Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , the Kingdom of Bahrain , and the United Arab Emirates , for activating the Doha Flight Information Region (FIR) and connecting it with FIRs of these countries.

It is indeed historic and Qatar had been campaigning to control its own airspace by establishing the Doha FIR  – a process that involved cutting the existing OBBB/Bahrain FIR in half.

One of the prime reason for the campaign was , the three-and-a-half-year dispute, which only ended in January this year, effectively closed the airspace of the neighbouring countries to Qatari aircraft.

Qatar signed operational agreements with Saudi, UAE, Bahrain.

The agreements mean that all the stakeholders for the activation of the Doha FIRs operational processes, which will begin this September 8 , are now complete.

The State of Qatar signed last April a similar agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran and signing these comes in the context of executing the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Councils historic decision, made during the Councils 10th meeting in its 225th Session held last March, on to establish a Doha FIR, after more than five years of deliberations.

Since that decision was made, Qatar has over the past period been in communication with stakeholders in all countries and held several meetings with neighboring countries for coordination purposes to enhance cooperation and end up with activating a Doha FIR by signing bilateral agreements to regulate operational processes and connect the Doha FIR with its counterparts in these countries.

Airspace is being redrawn and first ever to be established for Qatar , bringing the Gulf country into the airspace map in decades. The Doha FIR would shrink Bahrain’s airspace and extend to the UAE and north towards Iran. This will result 70% of flights heading to the UAE will pass through Qatar’s airspace , that is being read by many experts as a Qatar advantage.

Qatar's Minister of Transport Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti praised the efforts made by all parties toward signing these agreements, asserting that Qatar is ready for the Doha FIR activation, in addition to adding new air routes and increasing the capacity of both the aircraft holding area and search and rescue area in line with the Doha FIRs new dimensions , thus keeping pace with the development and achievements that Qatars civil aviation undergoes.

The minister added that Qatars civil aviation industry has significantly progressed in terms of modernizing its air navigation systems in step with latest universal specifications ,thus fulfilling the countrys air traffic requirements and showcasing an outstanding level of services.

The latest development in the establishment of the Doha FIR also comes just months ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup , where shuttle flights will take place between countries in the region.

Courtesy : Qatar News Agency (QNA).