Flying in/out of Doha
 

Hello,
Any views on how safe is to fly in/out of Doha given the situation with Iran. My colleagues were saying that Qatar airways cannot fly over Saudi they have to fly over Iran/Iraq and that has become more dicey since the recent escalation of tensions. A number European airlines have stopped flying over Iran/Iraq for those reasons but Qatar Airways has no choice.

Is this is a bit of scare mongering or do you truly believe that risks have materially increased for overflying aircraft? Personally I think that Qatar Airways is probably the only choice for flying in/out of Doha and as a Doha resident I have to live with the risk and not worth breaking my head about.

Any plane enthusiast/ pilots/ aircrew who can shed more light on the situation?

Re: Flying in/out of Doha
 

Let's just say I'm very thankful I left Doha a year ago and don't have to worry about these issues.

Can't you fly Qatar to Muscat (it'd fly around the UAE but not go into Iranian airspace) and then a flight out of Muscat to somewhere sane?

Re: Flying in/out of Doha
 

Flight radar currently shows an Oman Air flight going almost direct from Doha to Muscat overhead Abu Dhabi.

Re: Flying in/out of Doha
 

Flying out of Doha is a lot better than flying in.

Dreadful place ! And I speak as one who worked in Saudi for many years ! And in Nigeria !

Re: Flying in/out of Doha
 

QA flights to the UK go via the Gulf, Iran then Turkey, circumventing Iraq.
Probably not helping your anxiety any.

Re: Flying in/out of Doha
 

Your colleagues are correct.

If you already have tickets on QR, I would go; I would not buy tickets on them from now.

Re: Flying in/out of Doha
 

I wouldn't worry. I fly between the UK and Doha fairly regularly, the last time being on QR last Saturday, the day after the Soleimani strike. It's not correct that QR has no choice but to fly over Iran. Many times the QR flight goes up the Gulf, crosses the Iraqi coast near Basra then heads up the Iraqi side of the Iran-Iraq border into Turkey. Alternatively, as when coming back last weekend, you can be routed along the Iranian side of the border to avoid Iraqi airspace. On the southern end of that route, you parallel the Iranian coast slightly inland until directly north of Qatar, keeping well within Iranian ATC coverage until handover to ATC in Doha.

It's obviously foolhardy to fly over war zones, as with MH17, but that's not the case here. Any risk comes from misidentification at the peripheries. Both the above routes are established international air corridors which stick to a single ATC's airspace as far as Turkey. They avoid popping up on some twitchy AA battery's scope unexpectedly. To add to that, Qatar gets on well with both the States and Iran and QR are a very well funded outfit. They are the least likely to be a target, or to cut corners with safety, out of the carriers in the region.

Re: Flying in/out of Doha
 

If as seems likely the Ukrainian crash was a trigger happy goon then it would seem reasonable that the need to be more sure of what is going on has escalated to its more appropriate critical level with bollockings all round and likely some new checks. As a result it might actually be safer in the wake of that dreadful case.
It also seems that the heat has gone out of the situation, for now at least, so its pretty much as it has been since the start of the blockade, which has not been a real issue for a lot of people.