DUBAI: A UAE Civil Aviation Authority official has said they are considering rerouting UAE aircraft to avoid future intercepts involving Qatari fighter jets.
And on Tuesday Bahrain released radar tracks it said showed Qatari fighter jets passing by Emirati commercial airliners on their way to the island nation.
Emirati officials had on Monday described the fly-bys saying the fighter jets тАЬinterceptedтАЭ their civilian aircraft. But Qatari officials deny their jets intercepted the aircraft and on Tuesday dismissed the footage as тАЬunauthenticated videos.тАЭ
Meanwhile the UAE will file a complaint with the International Civil Aviation Organization stating that Qatari jets came within little more than three kilometers of Emirati passenger flights, Saif Al-Suwaidi, head of the general civil aviation authority said on Tuesday.
тАЬToday we will file our complaint to the International Civil Aviation Organization about the two serious incidents, along with the evidence that weтАЩve gathered, and ask for the intervention of the council to stop Qatar from repeating the act,тАЭ he said.
He said the UAE will accuse Qatar of violating the Chicago Convention, which governs the use of airspace, in its complaint.
тАЬItтАЩs a very obvious violation,тАЭ Suwaidi told Reuters – Doha denies the allegations.┬аSuwaidi added in a separate interview that the UAE was also looking at rerouting flights to Bahrain to avoid Qatari airspace.
тАЬWe are now studying changing the route to another one which is very far from Qatar,тАЭ Suwaidi added. тАЬHowever that will take some time as we have to reach an agreement with Bahrain.тАЭ
In a later statement released Tuesday the UAE Ministry of foreign affairs said it “strongly condemnedтАЭ QatarтАЩs recent actions in what it described as an тАЬunjustified escalationтАЭ and demanded that Doha тАЬadhered to the rules of international law.”
(With Arab News)
