UN aviation agency brokers crisis talks on Qatar flight blockade

A UN agency will broker a meeting between Qatari aviation officials and counterparts from Arab countries, as the tiny Gulf nation tries to regain air rights and mitigate the economic fallout of the crisis. Senior envoys from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain will gather at the ICAO this week to continue diplomatic discussions about the flight embargo, the UN agency said. ICAO has been reviewing requests from Qatar to ease a ban that its govt deems illegal. Qatar Airways CE Akbar Al Baker called on ICAO to declare the blockade illegal, saying Wednesday it is “in direct contradiction to the convention that guarantees rights to civil overflight.” Al Baker also said he’s concerned the carrier “will underperform” as the political standoff casts “some dark clouds.” <br/>