How airspace is distributed in the Gulf

How airspace is distributed in the Gulf:

Back in June 2017, a Saudi-led unjust blockade on the State of Qatar pushed the distribution of airspace in the Gulf into the spotlight. Blockading states — the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and also Egypt — issued NOTAMS (notices to flight crew) announcing the immediate closure of their airspace to all Qatari registered aircraft, a breach of ICAO’s Chicago Convention.

For Qatar, the closure of Bahrain’s airspace had been the most critical. Qatar’s own “airspace” is very small, and thus its airline relied on flying through Bahrain’s comparatively vast “airspace”. When Bahrain announced it had closed its airspace in order to impose an air blockade on its Gulf neighbour — the Middle East realised the huge (air) territorial power Bahrain had possessed for the last 50 years. 


Sovereign airspace by international law corresponds with the maritime definition of territorial waters as being 12 nautical miles out from a nation’s coastline. Airspace not within any country’s territorial limit is considered international. When I refer to ‘airspace’, I’m actually referring to a “flight information region” shape (FIR).