Crisis will have minimal impact on Malaysia

QATAR Airways is a favourite airline among many Malaysians, with its top notch service and reasonable ticket prices, especially en route to Saudi Arabia for umrah during Ramadan. But when Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut all ties with Qatar on Monday, they also banned its national carrier from flying into their countries and over their airspace, hitting hard Malaysians who are booked with Qatar Airways for their travels.

So, while the Qatar crisis will not have much impact on Qatar-Malaysia ties, at least not in the short term, Malaysians heading for umrah via Qatar Airways may be stranded because of the ban, says Prof Dr Kamaruzaman Yusoff from the Faculty of Islamic Civilisation at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).