Among the many lessons this crisis is teaching: just how much airspace independence matters.
Until just three years ago, Qatar was one of the few countries in the world with no airspace (FIR) of its own. It sat inside the Bahrain FIR, based on a prior agreement from the ‘70s.
A multi-year long effort, widely considered impossible, led by then-Minister of Transport Al-Sulaiti, changed that, resulting in something with no precedent in modern aviation history: ICAO (the UN special agency for aviation) redrew the global airspace map to establish the ‘Doha FIR’ - Qatar’s airspace, active today.
It means Qatar, like its neighbouring Gulf countries, has been able to take its own decisions on opening & closing airspace, restrict to prioritise safety, react/respond faster when situations demand it.
The current crisis has made that independence more valuable than ever. Certainly the right priority at the right time, especially for a Gulf transit hub.