Qatar Airways suffered heavy losses in its last fiscal year ending March 31, according to Akbar Al Baker, the CEO, at the Eurasia Airshow held in Antalya, Turkey, last week. Al Baker noted these losses were the result of the Gulf and Arab boycott, which prevented the company from operating flights to 18 cities in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt.

Although the CEO did not give specific figures, it was a setback for the company which generated a profit of $541 million (Dh1.9 billion) the year before the boycott. This is evidence of the effectiveness of the boycott, which Doha arrogantly says is useless but has contributed to the deterioration key sectors, including industrial and real estate. The stock market recorded the largest decline among stock exchanges in the world last year.

The boycott also affected the media, whereby Al Jazeera English’s staff has threatened to go on strike in London early June in demand of their rights.

As for Qatar Airways, it tried since the beginning of the crisis to reduce losses by leasing aircraft to British Airways and rescheduling flights. But the crisis will continue as long as the boycott does.

The company has lost millions of passengers after 18 airports gave it no access, especially in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where Qatar Airways operated passenger transit and air cargo. It means that most of the company’s profits in the years leading up to the boycott were generated mainly from four countries.

If so, what is the point of creating problems, financing opposition organisations, and inciting public opinion against the boycott in other countries? This is largely similar to a person who works in an institution and gets his income from it, but tries to destroy its facilities and destroying himself in turn when the management discovers his attempts and expels him from the workplace.

No alternatives

This is the result of ideologising the economy, a policy that’s been proven to fail in more than one place in the world. The Qatari regime has committed itself to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and promoted this party by exploiting its financial and media capabilities. Such an approach, however, will not work with the economy as this cannot be ideologised. In fact, ideologisation is the economy’s greatest enemy, as it gives no alternatives for parties with shared interests.

Qatar’s loss of the access to the four countries’ airports cannot be compensated by the cities of its new allies, including Iran, which has tried to provide alternative routes for Qatar Airways flights. Instead it added salt to the injury due to the increased costs. This is besides the fact that Iran’s cities and airports are not efficient and cannot be compared to the services offered by the Gulf airports nor in terms of the number of passengers.

Living standards in Iran are low and Iranians are barely able to meet their daily needs. Its labour market does not include foreign workers to feed transit flights and the unemployment rates are now higher at 30 per cent plus.

Qatar’s economy will continue to suffer, especially Qatar Airways, which is expected to announce its losses officially two months from now, despite the government’s ability to cover up these shortcomings and bear the brunt thanks to its financial reserves. Even that will suffer a setback if the boycott continues.

To resolve the ongoing crisis, Qatar has to stop ideologising its economy along with funding foreign organisations and acts of sabotage. It has to return to its Gulf surroundings, which is its natural place that reflects the interests of its people, and seek integration within the common interests of these countries.

— Dr Mohammad Al Asoomi is a UAE economic expert and specialist in economic and social development in the UAE and the GCC countries.