There have been two kinds of responses to the resumption of air operations after the surprise conflict in the Middle East about three weeks ago. Some airlines, such as Emirates, have been trying to get back to business as soon as possible. And there are others who are putting their aircraft into long-term storage.
Is Qatar Airways shrinking temporarily?
According to multiple fleet trackers and aviation reports, over 100 Qatar Airways aircraft are scattered around the world. For instance, here are some major airports I looked up at about 1 PM IST on March 23, 2026:
- London Heathrow: 4 A350-1000s
- San Francisco: 1 A350-1000
- Paris CDG: 1 A350-1000, 1 A380-800
- Frankfurt: 1 Boeing 787-9
- Bangkok: 1 Airbus A380-800
- Kuala Lumpur: 3 Boeing 777-300ERs, 1 Boeing 777-200, 1 Airbus A350-900
- Delhi: 1 Airbus A321
And then there are a whole lot of aircraft that have been put in a long-term storage facility in Spain over the past week or so. About 21 of them, including A350, A380, and A330 aircraft.
However, the airline appears to have a different risk assessment, and the regulator is moving very slowly. The last update from the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) was the closure of airspace, which took effect on March 1. It reads,
The Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) has announced the temporary suspension of air traffic in Qatari airspace as part of a series of precautionary measures taken by the State of Qatar in light of the latest developments in the region, and in line with QCAA’s commitment to ensuring the highest levels of safety and security for all flights.
QCAA confirms that it will continue monitoring the situation and coordinating with relevant authorities, and any updates will be announced as soon as they become available.
This was the reason people could not get out of there immediately. The airline now operates 15-20% of its pre-conflict flights, and every day there is a new destination they may or may not fly to, depending on the regulatory clearances for that day.
We’ve reached out to Qatar Airways for a statement and will update our story on their
Bottomline
Qatar Airways seems to be in a bit of a fix with the ongoing conflict in the region. The airline has been unable to resume operations at the scale it intended over the past three weeks or so. The airline has now started moving aircraft into storage, perhaps for safety reasons. Or for the fact that the airline foresees a long trench here where they will not be able to operate these aircraft.
What do you think is happening at Qatar Airways at the moment?
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