Airlines and tourism bodies feel the heat from the protests

Political uprisings across the MENA region are continuing to cause massive disruption to air transport.

British carrier Bmi went ahead with the launch of its flights from London to Tripoli yesterday – but with just the inaugural return flight under its belt BMI joined British Airways in cancelling flights from the UK to the Libyan capital.

A spokesperson for Gatwick airport (from where Afriqiyah Airways operates a daily service to Tripoli), said that this morning's flight from Tripoli went ahead as normal.

Emirates said today that its flights to Libya’s capital Tripoli are currently suspended due to the political situation in the country.
“Due to the continuing unrest in Libya, flights will no longer go via Tripoli until further notice. Emirates will operate some flights direct to Tunisia, others will be cancelled. Passengers will not be accepted for flights into Tripoli from any airport until further notice,” an Emirates spokesperson said.
Passengers are advised to check on emirates.com for further updates, which will be provided as soon as these are available.
Emirates said it will continue to monitor the situation in Tripoli and update passengers on the effect on flights from February 25 onwards as soon as possible.

In Bahrain, Gulf Air – the lead sponsor for the first race in the Grand Prix 2011 series - is counting the cost of the political unrest as the event has been cancelled.

The airline said the event “will be postponed to a later date so that the country can focus on its process of national dialogue. As the title sponsor of the prestigious event since its inception in 2004, and as the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, we fully support the decision by the Kingdom’s leadership to reschedule the race and we are looking forward to a new date,” a statement said.

Bahrain's tourism industry will also be counting the cost of losing the Formula One event which is said to be worth about $600 million in total revenues to the Gulf state.

Hotels across Bahrain fill up for the race, first held in 2004 and which is the single most important annual event for the hospitality sector.

As the first race of the Formula One season, the event was expected to be widely watched, generating huge international exposure for Bahrain.

The Grand Prix held in Bahrain 2008 attracted almost 100,000 spectators, according to an independent study. It generated $116.8m of income from visitor expenditure on accommodation, food and beverage outlets, retail markets and travel services, the study showed.

Egypt Air is still counting the cost of the uprising in Cairo with the airline claiming massive losses and needing to put new aircraft from its fleet onto wet charter with other Star Alliance carriers.