Qatar Airways Group CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer expressed the airline’s deep appreciation in an open letter on X, to its customers and staff who went through an unprecedented operational crisis this week.
Here’s how events unfolded within 24 hours after the missile strikes on Doha.
Airspace closure
At around 18:00 local time on Monday, 23 June, the temporary closure of Qatari airspace forced Qatar Airways to suspend global operations with immediate effect. Shortly after, airspace was also closed in Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait.
Hamad International Airport, one of the world’s busiest global hubs, was brought to a standstill, with almost 100 aircraft en route to Doha, several already on approach to its runways, and others lining up for departure.
At the time, over 90 Qatar Airways flights carrying more than 20,000 passengers to Doha, were forced to divert immediately – 25 flights diverted into airports across Saudi Arabia, 18 into Turkey, 15 into India, 13 into Oman, and 5 into the United Arab Emirates. The remaining aircraft were re-routed to major hubs including London, Barcelona, and others across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Disruption caused hundreds of flights to be disrupted
All departures from Doha were suspended until 00:01 o 24 June.
Inside Hamad International Airport, over 10,000 passengers were already in transit, expecting to depart when the escalation occurred. They found themselves caught in the middle of one of the most severe and complex operational challenges in modern aviation history.
Around the world, some flight crews had timed out of legal operating hours. Most of the fleet, including A380s carrying more than 450 passengers each, were now out of position, some grounded at airports with curfews.
Several flights had to wait for clearance to re-enter restricted regional airspace. Aircraft routing plans were rewritten in parallel with passenger itineraries. Over 151 flights were immediately disrupted.
Every part of the operation had to adapt in real time.
58,000 passengers departed Doha within a day
Once airspace reopened shortly after midnight on Tuesday, 24 June, diverted aircraft began returning to its Doha hub over the course of several hours. As these aircraft and their passengers disembarked at Hamad International Airport, the number of passengers in transit surged to over 22,000 by 05:00 local time.
By Tuesday, 24 June, Qatar Airways operated a total of 390 flights as it worked to rebuild its network and restore schedule integrity.
All passengers from diverted flights — approximately 20,000 in total — were cleared within 24 hours. More than 11,000 resumed their journeys during the morning wave on 24 June, with the remainder departing through the evening wave and morning bank on 25 June. As of today, there are no passengers from diverted flights left stranded.
Within just 18 hours, scheduled operations had resumed. Wave by wave, the system began to stabilise. By the end of Tuesday 24 June, more than 58,000 passengers had departed Doha. On 25 June, 578 scheduled flights took to the air.
Seamless coordination and teamwork
Over 4,600 customers were provided hotel accommodation, using approximately 3,200 rooms across Doha. Many of these passengers received onward boarding passes for their rescheduled flights before even leaving the terminal — allowing for a smoother re-entry once our operations resumed.
Teams from across the airline group stepped into transit areas to assist passengers directly, rebooking journeys, prioritising medical cases, supporting families and elderly travellers, and manually rebuilding complex travel itineraries, some involving other airlines, and expired visas. Over 35,000 meals were distributed, and water, comfort kits, and reassurance were offered face to face, flight by flight.
The airline increased capacity to destinations with high volumes of displaced passengers. Contact centre resources were scaled up to cope with global demand. A flexible travel policy, allowing passengers who had not yet started their journeys, to make changes or refund their bookings without fees. Across its global stations, ground handlers and partners moved quickly, supported by live coordination between airport and airline operations control centres.
The airline’s business continuity plans were activated, and teams coordinated on hard resource planning, catering, ground transport, hotel accommodation, and real-time alignment with passenger movements, immigration, customs, and every airport stakeholder.
