By Bev Fearis, published 6/01/21
Saudi Arabia has agreed to reopen borders and airspace to Qatar after a blockade of more than three years.
It cut off ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism, but announced this week that diplomatic relations have been restored.
The UAE, Egypt and Bahrain, which also joined the blockade, are expected to follow suit.
It means Qatar Airways will be able to resume flights to and from Saudi and the other destinations and will also no longer be forced to avoid Saudi airspace, which has made some journey times significantly longer.
According to FlightRadar24, flights from Doha to Djibouti, for example, previously took around two and a half hours but have taken up to four hours since the blockade has been in force.
