Qatar Airways calls Iran war its largest crisis to date

Qatar Airways group chief executive Hamad Al-Khater has described the conflict in Iran as the largest single crisis since the airline was founded. Speaking to Bloomberg TV, he said temporary airspace closures in the Gulf region and travel advisories had hit air traffic severely.

Booking patterns have shifted too. Many travellers are now booking trips at shorter notice, Al-Khater said.

The airline has adjusted its network in response, reviewing which connections are most profitable and suspending or temporarily pausing less profitable routes. The situation has eased somewhat. Last week Qatar Airways reached the same number of routes it operated before the conflict began, and demand remains fairly strong with high load factors, Al-Khater said, though fewer travellers overall are passing through the region.

Higher fuel prices are adding pressure. Al-Khater said an oversupply of crude oil worldwide at the start of the year offset part of the increase, but the airline is watching fuel costs closely. Like Etihad, Qatar Airways is focusing more on managing capacity than on gaining market share.

Al-Khater said geopolitical tensions are part of everyday life for an airline in the region, but called the scale of the current conflict unprecedented for his carrier.