Hamad International Airport fails to meet Civil Defense checks, delays opening

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UPDATE: April 1, 2013 | 4:15am

In a statement sent to media last night, the Chairman of the General Authority for Civil Aviation and the head of the Steering Committee of the New Doha International Airport acknowledged that the airport’s opening has been delayed for not meeting new safety standards set by Civil Defense. It’s new opening date will be announced soon.

He added:

“The NDIA Steering Committee commends the efforts of the Ministry of Interior represented by the Department of Civil Defence for their commitment to raising standards of safety and security in Qatar.

The Hamad International Airport project has been completed by a number of international contractors who have supervised the system readiness of the airport and have already issued international certificates in the domain of safety and security.”

—

The opening of the new Hamad International Airport has apparently been delayed once again, this time for not adhering to Qatar safety standards.

In a tweet this evening, Al Raya said the opening has been postponed due to a failure to obtain the necessary approvals from Civil Defense.

When reached by phone, employees at the airport said they believed it was still opening at midnight.

But a Civil Aviation Authority employee confirmed that the airport will not be opening, and that it could face a delay of more than two weeks.

Additionally, a spokeswoman for the airport told Doha News that there has been a change in plans and more information is forthcoming.

Dashed plans

Some 10 airlines were supposed to begin flying out of HIA tomorrow, with an inaugural Qatar Airways flight set to land within hours. That flight has been cancelled, a Peninsula photographer who was at the airport said on Twitter:

We’ll keep you updated as we learn more.

Credit: Photo courtesy of HIA

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