72 Days Towards The 2022 World Cup: Qatar Opens Old Airport To Reduce Air Traffic Pressure

Illustration (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Qatari government will reopen Doha International Airport for a long time next week to reduce traffic pressure during the FIFA World Cup at the end of this year.

Doha International Airport was closed in 2014 and replaced with Hamad International Airport which is not far from there. Since then Hamad has become the main airport as Qatar Airways airline grew rapidly.

However, Qatar Airways confirmed on Wednesday that the old airport will resume operations this week for flights from Cairo.

The flight from Cairo will transport the supporters of the Egyptian football team Zamalek. The team that won the Egyptian League is scheduled to face Saudi Arabia champions Al-Hilal on Friday at the Lusail Stadium.

No matter how many airlines have started selling tickets to Doha Airport starting September 15. These include Jazeera Airways Kuwait, Fly Dubai UAE, Salam Air Oman, and Pegasus Airlines Turkey.

Qatari authorities have not officially commented on the re-operation of the Doha airport. Currently, the airport is only used for flights to the Qatari royal family and VIPs along with its air force.

Hamad International Airport was used by three million passengers in June and 8.42 million in the second quarter of 2022. That figure is 18 percent higher than the first three months of this year.

According to estimates, the number of flights at the airport is expanding to 58 million passengers per year. The high number of graphs makes it predicted that Hamad will have difficulty during the World Cup.

The Qatar 2022 World Cup which will take place from November 20 to December 18 is expected to attract more than one million viewers. The estimate is that 150 people per day will arrive there ahead of the four-year event peak.

Earlier, earlier this year organizers estimated several Gulf airlines, from Dubai, Oman, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, would at least run more than 100 daily transports to Doha airport.

Passengers on flights to Doha will go through immigration checks at the time of departure to reduce delays in Doha. They will also be asked to return on the same day after watching the match.