The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations body, has given preliminary support to Qatar's quest to gain control of its airspace just months after the Gulf state mended ties with its neighbors following a yearslong rift. Doha would have control of two new regions known as the Doha Flight Information Region (FIR) along with an additional Doha Search and Rescue Region (SRR). Qatar had previously ceded control of its airspace to neighboring Bahrain under a bilateral agreement.

Concluding the 223rd session of the ICAO Council on June 29, the official statement said it has agreed “in principle” to the new mapping of the skies. Having taken three years to assess Qatar’s request, the ICAO certified that the new “flight information region” over its sovereign territory and contiguous airspace was consistent with the Chicago Convention.

Soon, Qatar will be ending its air navigation arrangements with Bahrain, another Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state, which has been providing it air navigation services from over its sovereign territory. But while Qatar will be taking over a larger region, Bahrain will be relinquishing its hold from part of its previous airspace to the Doha FIR.

Addressing the session, Qatar’s Minister of Transport and Communications His Excellency Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti observed that the airspace proposal “demonstrates the huge investments made by Qatar to develop its air navigation system for the benefit of the region as a whole by providing safe, efficient and seamless air navigation services.”