Qatar Airways (QA) has welcomed the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in favor of Qatar in the Gulf airspace dispute.

The ruling affirmed Qatar's right to challenge airspace restrictions imposed by neighboring countries Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Egypt (“the Blockading States”) before the UN’s aviation body, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Following the announcement of this decision, Qatar will continue its case at ICAO against the blockading nations.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akber Al Baker said the national airline was always confident of this outcome and blocking the airline from overflying these territories contradicted all international civilized behavior and legal privileges.

Our Group Chief Executive, HE Mr Akbar Al Baker: “I’m very glad for my country for the outcome of the International Court of Justice. Preventing us from overflying these territories is contrary to the terms of the Chicago Convention. This is a very favourable outcome.” pic.twitter.com/sZVZRjDXoL

— Qatar Airways (@qatarairways) July 15, 2020

In a statement, QA also said it will seek "appropriate compensation of the financial injuries inflicted on Qatar Airways as a result of the illegal airspace blockade."

"We look forward to observing the return of the State of Qatar to Montreal to urge the ICAO Council to condemn the illegal airspace blockade of it and take appropriate actions to require the four blockading states to comply with their obligations under international law in order to restore the normalcy of international civil aviation," the statement adds.

The airline highlighted that the abusive measures by the siege countries devastated the airline's carefully planned decades-long program 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," the statement points out.

Despite airspace restrictions as well as the impact of the current novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, QA continues to soar higher. 

The airline's share of the passenger and air cargo market grew significantly in recent months, Al Baker had confirmed earlier.

QA, which has been consistently rated as the World's Best Airline, has been flying past various challenges to expand and continue to serve millions of passengers worldwide. The airline maintained a robust and agile network helping take over 1.8 million passengers home amid the current pandemic.

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