How my Qatar Airways flight was diverted as missiles flew over Doha

The closing of Qatar airspace for several hours on Monday night because of Iran’s missile strikes on the US airbase in that country caused chaos for thousands of passengers flying Qatar Airways. Many incoming flights were diverted to Istanbul which caused congestion there, adding to delays.

After the Qatar airspace was reopened and delayed flights began landing in Doha, the airline’s staff seemed unable to give incoming transit passengers reliable information about their onward flights. As they poured from their aircraft into Hamad International Airport, airline officials were only able to direct them to the transfer desk, where they joined a very long queue.

One official standing near the queue told me my flight to Cape Town had already left so I should ask the transfer staff to book me on the next flight.  But after I had spent several minutes in the queue, a better-informed official told me the flight had not yet taken off and directed me to gate C11.

Indeed the flight was checking in passengers there for an 8am departure, though an official said later that the flight was still short of three crew so was further delayed. By 11am we were still waiting to board and the airline staff could only offer departure “today, hopefully”.

Read more: Iran fires missiles at US airbase in Qatar; attack intercepted with no casualties, says Doha

Our flight, Qatar Airways QR 260, was about two hours from takeoff in Warsaw en route to Doha on Monday night when the pilot announced at about 7.15pm South African time that the flight was diverting to Istanbul.

He first said Qatar’s airspace had been closed because of the “political situation between Israel and Iran” before narrowing the cause down to Iranian missile strikes on the US military base in Qatar. The Al Udeid Air Base, just outside Doha, is the largest US military base in the Middle East.

After circling several times on the approach to Istanbul, presumably because of other Qatar Airways flights ahead, the pilot of the Warsaw flight’s Boeing 787-8 eventually landed at about 8.49pm South African time, 9.49pm local time. 

The aircraft remained on the tarmac for about an hour before the pilot announced that it would take at least three hours to disembark passengers because of the 10 other Qatar Airways flights ahead of ours. He had earlier said there were already 15 Qatar Airways aircraft at Istanbul, with more on the way. 

The pilot said the airline would put up the passengers in hotels for the night and then fly them back to Qatar when it was safe. He seemed to be anticipating a short war.

And indeed, after another hour, he announced that the Qatar airspace had been reopened and so the flight would take off to Doha. It lifted off at about 2.40am local time for the four-hour, 20-minute flight to Doha and landed at about 7am.

Read more: US joining war on Iran creates major political headache for SA

The situation was, for me, among other things, rather ironic. I was returning to South Africa from a study tour by African journalists to learn more about Russia’s war against Ukraine – and here my journey was being disrupted by another war. The world is clearly not in great shape.

But the inconvenience is nothing compared with the possible alternative. One should commend Qatar for closing its airspace quickly. They were no doubt mindful of the tragedy of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which was shot down by a Russian missile as it was flying over the eastern Ukraine Donbas warzone in July 2014.

All combatants denied responsibility for causing the crash which killed all 298 people on board the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. 

It was only in May this year that the United Nations’ Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization voted that Russia had been responsible for firing the fatal missile.

It said the Russian Federation failed to uphold its obligations under international air law, which requires states to “refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight”. DM