Will Avios redemptions to Dubai on Qatar Airways restart?

You will probably have seen in the national media that Qatar has reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to end the three year blockade of Doha.

I will focus on the aviation benefits of the detente rather than the political elements.

Qatar Airways will now be allowed to fly over Saudi Arabia again. As the only country sharing a land border with Qatar, the removal of flying rights meant that many Qatar Airways routes involved a lenghty detour. The detour involved flying over Iran – for a substantial fee – which ironically strengthened the regime that Saudi Arabia and the UAE wanted to weaken.

More practically, we should soon see Qatar Airways resuming flights to the UAE and the other countries involved.

It will reopen a route to Abu Dhabi on Avios, as British Airways has now dropped the route, as well as increasing Avios options to Dubai. We may even see the Doha to Ras Al Khaimah route coming back, which I reviewed a few years ago.

It will be especially useful to readers outside London who may find a Qatar Airways redemption to the UAE more convenient than flying British Airways with a connection in Heathrow.