Qatar Airways boasts that it got all 20,000 stranded passengers on their way within 24 hours after a brief airspace closure grounded all flights. That’s quite an impressive feat.
Qatar Airways Rebounds Swiftly After Airspace Closure, Moves 20,000 Passengers in 24 Hours
On June 23, 2025, Qatar closed its airspace for several hours following Iran’s missile strike on the US Al Udeid Air Base near Doha. This disruption grounded hundreds of flights mid-air and impacted more than 150 Qatar Airways and partner services, leaving over 20,000 passengers stranded across regional hubs.
Rather than allowing the situation to escalate, Qatar Airways immediately activated its crisis-response plan. Ground teams were deployed, contingency reroutes were implemented through neighboring countries, and over 3,200 hotel rooms and 35,000 meals were arranged for nearly 4,600 displaced passengers.
By early Tuesday (June 24), the first wave of more than 11,000 passengers had resumed their journeys, as diverted aircraft repositioned and flights ramped back up. Within 24 hours (by June 25th) all 20,000 affected travelers had been rebooked or accommodated and were either in the air or at their destinations. That same day, the airline was operating approximately 578 scheduled flights, marking a full recovery.
Qatar Airways also waived all change and refund fees through July 15, bolstered staffing at its contact centers, assisted with transit visas, and offered medical and administrative support at Doha’s Hamad International Airport, helping calm passengers and streamline the recovery effort.
Despite extended wait times (queues reportedly stretched for hours down the concourses of Hamad International Airport), many travelers acknowledged the airline’s efforts. The scale of the operation was nothing short of impressive, highlighting that customer service and accommodation logistics were mobilized “in hours, not days,” reflecting a level of preparedness born from the 2017–2021 Gulf blockade.
Badr Mohammed Al Meer, the CEO of Qatar Airways, thanked passengers for their patience:
To everyone who travelled with us during this difficult time — to those who waited patiently in long queues, to those who faced uncertainty, and to those who showed understanding in the face of a worrying and rapidly-evolving crisis — I thank you. We are deeply grateful for your patience and trust as we worked to take you to your destination as safely and smoothly as possible.
My sincere appreciation goes to our teams across the airline, and to our partners around the world, for their immense efforts around the clock over the past few days. Faced with an extraordinary challenge, we came together to support our passengers, recover our network, and return our operations to normal. The professionalism and unity on display reflect the very best of what our airline group and our partners stand for.
Frankly, I think Qatar Airways has a lot to be proud of.
CONCLUSION
In an industry often derailed by unforeseen geopolitical events, Qatar Airways provided a textbook example of resilience. Its ability to rebook 20,000 passengers within 24 hours, seamlessly coordinate multi-country reroutes, and restore full operations underscores the carrier’s crisis-management maturity. Far from being a setback, the incident reinforced its reputation for operational excellence and customer care in the face of uncertainty. I can think of a few carriers who could learn some things from this…
image: Qatar Airways
Vote Biden
Yours will be the lone vote .
If you remember to do so, try to get Qatar Airways to manage American Airlines for a 10 year period. AA has gotten kind of bad.
Vote Trump
(a) “… and Impacted more than 150 …”
(b) “… all 20,000 Affected travelers …”
(b) is correct ; (a) is jargon . Any true “Impacts” were related to the attacks on the air base ; not the pax .
A Maga fan pretending to be an English teacher? You might the only fan of the humanities in his orbit.
Wow, that was so helpful to the rest of us. Thanks so much!
Some of the information noted in this article/blog post is not correct based on my spouse’s experience; my spouse was transiting through DOH on Qatar Airways and had the misfortune of being there when the Qatari airspace was closed. Regarding hotels, my spouse was informed by staff there that they couldn’t leave the airport to get a hotel, so my spouse was stuck in the airport until getting a flight out, and was stranded for 48 hours, not 24 hours.
Being stranded can be a problem at an airport where one has already passed passport control. The airline may have to have government agents come to cancel your exit.
It’s almost like QR had an idea what was coming and already had a contingency plan!
My cousin was travelling with them from Australia to Europe. Even though her flight out of MEL was cancelled, and despite the huge distance involved, QR somehow managed to get her to her destination within 24 hours of her scheduled departure time. If something similar had happened to the likes of BA, their operations would be struggling for weeks, if not months, after the incident.
That should have been scheduled ARRIVAL time. In other words, she was a day late, but it’s still very impressive in my book.
This reads as though you’ve swallowed Qatar’s PR material, rather than objectively scrutinising it.
Not trying to be a QR cheerleader, but do think QR pulled off something great here.
Okay. If you feel that way, that’s obviously perfectly fair.