Asmara flights halted leaving few options for Eritreans to travel out of country

It is understood that Qatar Airways has suspended their flights from Doha to Asmara, the Eritrean capital city, without citing specific reasons for the halt of services.

While leaving the option of a return open, a statement from the airline has suggested the flight suspension was due to “operational reasons” which of course leaves the real reasons open to speculation.

Qatar Airways is one of the few international airlines which flew to Asmara, leaving less than a handful of others like FlyDubai, Turkish, and Egypt Air connecting the Eritrean capital to the rest of the world.


Eritrea, a country with a huge tourism potential of beaches and historical sites combined, has struggled to attract any meaningful number of tourists as a result of the country’s political course and growing isolation.

Qatar Airways’ country office in Asmara will remain open, according to information received, for the time being to assist travelers with confirmed bookings to either get a refund or else are helped with alternative travel arrangements, difficult as that may be.

Qatar Airways launched its twice a week service to Asmara only two years ago in December 2014 and was promptly embraced as the most fancied airline to travel with by Eritreans from among the international carriers flying to Eritrea.

Are you part of this story?

  • Add this story to our main publication, eTurboNews, to be seen by up to 2 Million readers and submitted to major search engines, news aggregators, newsletters, social media, syndication, audio, and language translations. Click here

Leave a Comment