Qatar faces scrutiny after women 'forcibly examined'

Yahoo – AFP, Gregory Walton, October 27, 2020 

Qatar Airways crew prepare to enter Sydney international airport to fly a repatriation
flight back to France on April 2, 2020, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Qatar Airways crew prepare to enter Sydney international airport to fly a repatriation flight back to France on April 2, 2020, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Revelations that passengers flying through Doha were forced to endure vaginal inspections have upended Qatar's efforts to boost its reputation before the Gulf state hosts World Cup 2022, experts say. 

Officers marched women off a Sydney-bound Qatar Airways flight earlier this month and forced them to undergo intimate examinations after a newborn baby was found abandoned in an airport bathroom. 

The incident sparked a diplomatic row between Australia and Qatar and comes as a setback for the gas-rich emirate, which has worked extensively to grow its soft power. 

Doha has invested heavily in its airline, Al-Jazeera broadcaster and social projects that include women's health and educational initiatives. 

But the conservative Muslim monarchy, where sex and childbirth out of wedlock are still punishable by jail, has struggled to reassure critics that its promises on women's rights, labour relations and democracy are credible. 

Mark Gell, founder of Sydney-based consultancy Reputation Edge, said "it could get out of hand from a reputational point of view for the airline", the state-run Qatar Airways. 

"Was it the airline's responsibility? We don't know. But absolutely it could impact their business," he told AFP. 

"If I shared this with my wife, I'm sure she'd turn around and say 'I'm never going through there again'." 

Adverts packed with top-flight footballers including Neymar have aired worldwide, touting Qatar Airways' extensive network, ultra-modern aircraft and glitzy Doha airport hub. 

World Cup 2022 host Qatar has struggled to reassure critics that its promises
on women's rights, labour relations and democracy are credible

Australia is a particularly important market for the carrier, which before the coronavirus pandemic served six cities Down Under and promoted repatriation flights for stranded nationals when other airlines grounded their fleets. 

'Avoid Qatar Airways' 

Alex Oliver of Sydney-based think tank the Lowy Institute said Australians -- especially women -- would "avoid Qatar Airways like the plague" after the October 2 incident. 

"It's a shocking move from a country that has spent billions of state funds on attempting to convey perceptions of a more liberal Gulf state," she said. 

But it is sport on which Qatar has staked its reputation, winning not just the 2022 World Cup and bidding for summer Olympics but also pouring cash into developing sport in poorer countries. 

Qatar has nonetheless had to contain several public relations crises in recent years linked to its shock victory in the competition to host the 2022 football tournament. 

As it began to ramp up construction, rights groups condemned Qatar's treatment of the hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers recruited from South Asia and other developing countries. 

Activists have long called on Qatar to decriminalise "love cases", women who become pregnant outside of marriage and give birth without the help of medics who are required to report such cases. 

Human Rights Watch told AFP Qatar should "examine the policy that led to the event in the first place".

Doha has invested heavily in its airline, Al-Jazeera broadcaster and social
projects to boost its image

'Betrayed' 

The ultra-wealthy country of 2.75 million people has also faced scrutiny over LGBT rights, jihadist fundraising, and its overseas military interventions since its 2010 victory in the battle to host the global soccer spectacle. 

Qatar's government has yet to address the airport allegations, despite a furious rebuke by Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne who called the incident "grossly disturbing, offensive (and) concerning". 

Late on Sunday, airport management released a statement claiming that "individuals who had access to the specific area of the airport where the newborn infant was found were asked to assist in the query". 

It gave no details about the procedures they were required to undergo and made no apology for the incident, but said the child was still alive and being cared for. 

Gell said it would not be enough for the airport management to downplay the allegations and suggest the women had merely been asked to help trace the abandoned baby's mother. 

"That's not going to hold up. In fact, that'll probably inflame it, to suggest that these women have voluntarily done this. I would find that difficult to believe," he said. 

Oliver said she was surprised the response "was so hardline and intransigent". 

"With the World Cup now getting very close, you would expect it to be back-pedalling madly." 

Expatriate women in Doha have reacted with shock and fear to the disclosures. 

"I can't help but think of my daughters if they had been on that plane," said one expatriate woman living in Doha who declined to be named for fear of retribution. 

"It makes me sick. I feel betrayed by the country I call home," said another.

Workers strike at Kuwait airport for better working conditions

Arab News - AFP, 11 November 2019

The right to strike is guaranteed for its citizens but foreign workers, who make up
a major portion of Kuwait’s labor force, do not have the right to strike. Above,
the Kuwaiti international airport. (AFP)

Monday’s strike by Kuwaiti staff did not affect flights, officials said

The right to strike is guaranteed for citizens in Kuwait, but such actions remain rare in the Gulf country

KUWAIT CITY: Hundreds of workers at Kuwait’s international airport held a one-hour strike Monday to demand better working conditions, threatening to stage longer walkouts in the coming days.

Ahmed Mohammed Al-Kandari, a union representative, said workers were calling for improved treatment and to be compensated for daily exposure to pollution and noise.

Monday’s strike by Kuwaiti staff did not affect flights, officials said.

The right to strike is guaranteed for citizens in Kuwait, but such actions remain rare in the Gulf country.

Foreign workers do not have the right to strike.

“Airport traffic is very normal,” Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah, head of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation, said.

Another official, Saleh Al-Fadaghi, the airport’s director of operations, also said flights were not affected.

“During the one-hour strike, 19 flights were operated as scheduled. There were five departures and 14 arrivals,” he said.

Kandari said the purpose of the strike was not to disrupt operations but “to make our voices heard.”

He added that Kuwaiti workers would hold a further two-hour strike on Wednesday and a 24-hour strike on Sunday if their demands are not met.

Of 4,500 civil aviation employees, 1,500 took part in Monday’s strike, he said.

Floods in Qatar as almost a year's rain falls in one day

Yahoo – AFP, October 20, 2018

Motorists at the entrance to a flooded tunnel in the Qatari capital Doha after
heavy rainfall, on October 20, 2018 (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Doha (AFP) - Qatar was hit by widespread flash flooding on Saturday as the desert state received almost a year's worth of rainfall in one day.

Roads became impassable, air traffic was disrupted and homes were flooded, while shops and universities closed.

Qatar broadcaster Al Jazeera's senior meteorologist, Steff Gaulter, tweeted that one part of the capital Doha had experienced almost a year's worth of rain on Saturday.

"Abu Hamor (a suburb) now reporting 59.8mm. (Doha average annual rainfall is 77mm.)," she wrote.

By early evening it was estimated that 61mm of rain had fallen.

Qatar Airways was forced to divert some flights, creating logistical headaches, as neighbours Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are among states that do not allow Doha to use their airspace, due to an ongoing diplomatic rift.

Some Qatar-bound flights were forced to divert to Kuwait and Iran and the airline warned its passengers to expect further problems.

A man shields himself with a plastic bag as he walks along a flooded street in the 

Qatari capital Doha, during heavy rainfall on October 20, 2018 (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

"Due to weather conditions over Doha, flights are subject to delays for departure and arrivals," Qatar Airways said on Twitter.

Qatar's public works authority issued a warning to drivers to avoid tunnels because of the flooding.

Social media in Qatar showed cars almost completely submerged under water, after thunderstorms over Doha.

Other footage showed rainwater running downstairs inside buildings as workers desperately tried to mop up.

Qatar's National Library, not yet a year old, was forced to close and said it would remain shut on Sunday to ensure the "safety of our users".

The US embassy also said it would be closed on Sunday, "due to weather conditions".

The extent of the flooding may cause concern for the authorities who have spent billions on major infrastructure projects ahead of hosting the World Cup in 2022.

Some sought to downplay the disruption, joking online there was now no need for Saudi Arabia to dig a canal around Qatar -- an apparent threat made by Riyadh as part of the continuing political tensions -- because the flooding had done the neighbouring power's job for it.

Metro aims to break new ground in car-mad Qatar

Yahoo – AFP, David Harding, March 9, 2017

Construction site of a new metro line in Qatar's capital Doha (AFP Photo/
Karim Jaafar)

Doha (AFP) - Qatar's metro, once completed, will run hundreds of kilometres across ultra-modern Doha, along the coast and into its expanding suburbs. But whether car-mad Qataris will actually use it remains an open question.

Driverless three-car trains are to serve 100 stations, easing into gleaming newly-built destinations with names such as Ras Bu Fontas, Al-Shaqab and Legtaifiya.

Now the main task for those behind the approximately $18-billion project -- in a country where car is king -- is to ensure it draws enough passengers to justify the huge outlay.

"We are not a culture that is used to the metro, not like Europe," said Khaled Al-Thani, a civil engineer with Qatar Rail, the state-owned company responsible for the metro.

"This is all new for us."

The Doha Metro is a massive venture even by the standards of the energy-rich Gulf desert emirate where infrastructure mega-projects are commonplace.

Officials at Qatar Rail are cagey about terming it the world's biggest ongoing engineering project, preferring to call it one of the largest.

Since ground was broken in the summer of 2013, a workforce of 41,000 has been digging, tunnelling and building. Large tracts of land in Doha have been set aside for a network of tunnels and stations.

Tunnel boring world record

Qatar even set a world record for using 21 tunnel boring machines at the same time in November 2015, the highest number ever recorded.

Ninety percent of the metro will run underground when operational. The station designs have been approved by the emir himself, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

Qatar's metro, once completed, will run hundreds of kilometres across ultra-modern 

Doha, along the coast and into its expanding suburbs (AFP Photo/Karim Jaafar)

Qatar Rail says its target is to have completed 70 percent of the network by the end of 2017, with the opening due in late 2019 or early 2020.

"With metros in other developed countries, when they develop a metro they introduce a new line, but for us in Qatar, we're introducing a whole network system," said Khaled Al-Thani.

Probably the most symbolic part of the Doha Metro will be a station around 20 kilometres north of the capital.

Lusail, the final stop on the Red Line, will serve the $45-billion city emerging from the desert that will be the venue of football's 2022 World Cup final.

"We are actualising a vision," said Abdulla Abdul Aziz al-Subai, managing director of Qatar Rail.

Gridlocked Doha

The company has begun holding special classes for Doha residents to make them aware of the metro and to encourage them to use it.

"I'm very confident that the metro will be a hit," said Thani on an upbeat note.

"It takes me approximately one hour every day to go to work. So, with the metro you have a safe and dependable transportation to reach from point A to point B."

The target is to remove 190,000 cars a day off Doha's heavily congested roads.

A report from the Qatar Mobility Innovations Centre (QMIC) found that commuters spent an average of 109 hours in traffic on the country's roads in 2016.

That was an increase of seven hours over the previous year and equivalent to around $1.5 billion in losses for the Qatari economy, according to QMIC calculations.

Many question whether Qataris will swap their beloved cars for public transport, and say foreign workers -- as in Dubai -- are more likely to fill the carriages.

The country's population could rise to 3.6 million by 2031, from 2.6 million today, and Qatar Rail wants 1.65 million people at year to be using the metro by that time.

"To change this culture, it will take time," said Abdulla Alsayed Zahran, a manager with Qatar Rail.

Qatar Airways says it will stop sacking women who get pregnant

Women working with Qatar Airways will not be sacked anymore if they get pregnant or marry within the first five years of employment. The airline company relaxed its rules after pressure from international labor groups.

Deutsche Welle, 27 Aug 2015

A spokeswoman for the Doha-based airline said the company had phased out the restrictions "over the past six months."

The policies included air hostesses losing their jobs if they became pregnant or married within the first five years of employment.

"Our policies have evolved with the airline's growth," a Qatar Airways spokeswoman told news agency AFP. Under the new rules, female employees who were going to have babies would be offered temporary jobs. Staff could also get married after notifying the company.

More than 9,000 cabin crew operate Qatar Airways' planes around the world. Nearly 80 percent of these are women, who have to organize their lives around their company's strict laws.

One of these includes a rule according to which female employees can be picked up from work only by their father, brothers or husband. Qatar Airways is not easing this restriction for now.

Qatar Airways has a fleet of more than
150 jets, servicing almost 150 destinations

The airlines' discriminatory policies

The airline's discriminatory policies have met with severe criticism from employees and labor unions around the world. The International Labor 

Organization (ILO) looked into the organization's rules after a complaint by the International Transport Workers' Federation and the International Trade Union Confederation.

The ILO said Qatar was a signatory of the 57-year-old convention against discrimination at work, ratified by 170 countries and that its rules dismissing pregnant women breached the international agreement.

"Protective measures should include action taken to ensure that a woman worker does not lose her job during pregnancy and that maternity is not a source of discrimination," the ILO said in its statement in June this year.

However, the airways snubbed international pressure and its chief, Akbar Al Baker said at the time, "I don't give a damn about the ILO - I am there to run a successful airline." Al Baker also said the UN agency's attitude was "evidence of a vendetta they have against Qatar Airways and my country."

The Gulf kingdom has been repeatedly criticized for its treatment of workers, especially those working to build football stadiums and infrastructure ahead of the World Cup in 2022.

mg/kms (AFP, Reuters)

Emirates airline to launch 'world's longest' non-stop flight

Dubai-based Emirates airline says it will launch the world's longest non-stop flight next year, connecting the Gulf nation with Central America. Dubai-Panama City passengers will be in their seats for over 17 hours.

Deutsche Welle, 14 Aug 2015

Slated to debut in February 2016, the 13,821-kilometer (8,590-mile) stretch between Dubai and Panama City will take approximately 17 hours, 35 minutes - using a Boeing 777-200LR to carry up to 266 passengers and 15 tons of cargo.

"Panama City will be our first destination gateway in Central America, providing a convenient option for our passengers travelling from or through our global hub in Dubai and onward to destinations throughout Central America, the Caribbean and the northern part of South America," the airline's chief executive Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum told the dpa news agency.

Panama to United Arab Emirates

Australia's Qantas currently operates the world's longest flight, from Dallas, Texas to Sydney, Australia, which takes just under 17 hours. The new flight between Dubai and Panama City is longer by just 17 kilometers.

Singapore Airlines had previously operated an even longer flight - nearly 19 hours - that connected Singapore to Newark, New Jersey, but scrapped it two years ago to cut costs.

Emirates is backed by the government of Dubai and has expanded rapidly by routing international transit passengers and cargo through its hub in the Persian Gulf.

jar/jr (dpa, AFP, AP)

Emirates Officially Opens Dubai-Bali Route

Jakarta Globe, Arientha Primanita, Jun 04, 2015

Inaugural flight of Emirates serving Dubai to Bali route arrived in Ngurah Rai
airport in Bali on Wednesday, June 3, 2015. Emirates adds Bali as its 146th
 global destination opening up opportunities to help boost the Island's tourism
sector. (Photo Courtesy of Emirates)

Jakarta. Dubai-based airline Emirates officially launched a daily flight from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Indonesia’s most prominent tourism destination, Bali, with an inaugural flight on Wednesday, the airline said in a statement on Thursday.

The flight marked the commencement of Emirates’ non-stop daily flight to Bali, its second destination in Indonesia after Jakarta, the airline said.

The EK 398 flight arrived in Bali at 9:40 p.m local time carrying Emirates’ top officials, journalists and passengers from 40 different cities from around the world, including Moscow, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and New York.

Emirates will use Boeing 777-300ER airplanes for the fleet serving the Dubai-Bali route.

Barry Brown, divisional senior vice president of commercial operations East at Emirates, said Bali is a main tourism destination and an important market for Emirates as there was high interest in the island.

“We are pleased to now be able to serve this demand and contribute to the island’s economic and tourism growth.

“We also look forward to connecting passengers from Bali to Dubali and onward to more than 80 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas through one convenient stop at our world-class hub,” Brown said in the statement.

I Gde Pitana, resources development head at the Ministry of Tourism, welcomed the new route saying it would boost tourism in Bali — which recorded 3.7 million foreign visitors last year.

“The island continues to attract tourists from around the world, and a direct route to and from Dubai with Emirates will help to increase access to other parts of the world, bringing new opportunities for travellers and businesses alike,” he said.

Bali is Emirate’s 146th global destination, adding to the airline’s routes in the Asia Pacific region which currently serves 18 destinations in 11 countries in Asia.

The airline also provides Emirates SkyCargo service which offers 294 tons of cargo per week from Dubai to Bali and vice versa.

The cargo that could be carried from Bali included marine products such as tuna, household goods, leather goods and handicrafts which mainly will be delivered to European countries. Moreover, the airline said there are also household goods, pharmaceuticals and automotive parts will also be imported not only to Bali but to other cities in Indonesia like Surabaya and Balikpapan.

Emirates first included Jakarta in their international route in 1992 through Singapore and Colombo. By March 2013, the airline began operating a daily three non-stop flights a week from Jakarta to Dubai.

GlobeAsia

Gulf carriers place £100bn aircraft order

Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways together order over 200 of new Boeing 777X, a more fuel-efficient version of the 777 jumbo

The Guardian, Gwyn Topham, Sunday 17 November 2013

Boeing aircraft models on display at the Dubai Airshow. Photograph: Marwan
Naamani/AFP/Getty Images

Middle Eastern airlines underlined their rapid ascendancy to the forefront of the global aviation market by announcing aircraft orders worth around £100bn at the Dubai Airshow – including over 200 of a newly launched Boeing model.

Dubai-based Emirates, already the world's biggest operator of the Airbus A380 superjumbo, placed an order for 50 more of the doubledecker planes, giving a total of 140.

Its smaller UAE rival from Abu Dhabi, Etihad, ordered 50 of Airbus's latest plane, the smaller A350, for delivery from 2020. As well as 37 other Airbus planes, Etihad ordered 30 more Boeing 787 Dreamliners, making it the largest customer for the pioneering model. Despite a troubled start that saw the entire 787 fleet grounded earlier this year, the Dubai deal took total orders for Dreamliner past the 1,000 mark. Boeing said the milestone made its 787 the fastest selling wide-bodied plane in avaiation history.

But Boeing's biggest coup was the announcement of agreements to buy 259 of its upcoming 777X plane, the majority by Gulf carriers. On the day of the official product launch of a new, more fuel-efficient version of the popular 777 jumbo, Boeing said it had secured agreements worth up to $95bn (£59bn) at list prices. Boeing said the commitments – for 150 planes from Emirates, 50 from Qatar Airways, 25 from Etihad, as well as 34 from German airline Lufthansa – would provide a strong foundation for development and production of the airplane.

Meanwhile, low-cost carrier flydubai made a commitment for up to 111 Boeing 737s, worth up to $11.4bn, the largest deal the American aircraft manufacturer has yet secured in the Middle East for single-aisle planes.

Qatar Airways also added 13 Airbus planes to its 50 from Boeing.

Etihad's 50 Airbus A350s will be powered by engines produced and maintained by Rolls Royce, the British engineering firm announced, in a deal worth up to $5bn.