Qatar Airways and several other airlines will allow citizens of seven countries who were put on a travel ban by the United States to resume flying to the US cities if they have valid documents.
This follows a Seattle judge blocking President Donald Trump’s executive order banning citizens of Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Yemen from travelling to the US.
The US government said airlines could board travellers after the ruling by Judge James Robart, a George W Bush appointee.
In a travel advisory on its website, Qatar Airways said: “As directed by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), nationals of the seven affected countries – Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen and all refugees seeking admission presenting a valid, unexpired US visa or Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) card (Green Card) will be permitted to travel to the United States and will be processed accordingly upon arrival.”
Fellow GCC carriers Etihad and Emirates said they would do the same, as did Air France, Spain’s Iberia and Germany’s Lufthansa, a Reuters’ dispatch said.
In Cairo, aviation sources said Egypt Air and other airlines had told their sales offices of Friday’s ruling and would allow people previously affected by the ban to book flights.
Officials in Lebanon and Jordan, however, said they had received no new instructions regarding the January 27 travel ban.
A spokeswoman for budget airline Norwegian, which operates transatlantic flights including from London and Oslo, said the situation was “still very unclear,” Reuters added.
The ruling gave hope to many travellers and sent some scrambling for tickets, worried that the newly opened window might not last long.
The travel ban, which Trump says is needed to protect the US against militants, has sparked travel chaos around the world and condemnation by rights groups who have called it racist and discriminatory.
“I am very happy that we are going to travel today. Finally, we made it,” said Fuad Sharef, an Iraqi with an immigration visa who was prevented along with his family from boarding a flight to New York a week ago.
“We were right, we are legal. Even at that time, I was optimistic. I was sure that we were going to go. I didn’t surrender and I fought for my right and other people’s right,” Reuters quoted him saying.
The family was due to fly on Turkish Airlines later yesterday from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to Istanbul and then to New York, before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Washington state lawsuit was the first to test the broad constitutionality of Trump’s executive order. Judge Robart explicitly made his ruling apply across the country, while other judges in similar cases have so far issued orders concerning only specific individuals.
Agencies add:
Some travellers interviewed in Middle Eastern capitals were cautious about the news of Friday’s ruling, which the White House said it planned to appeal as soon as possible.
Ibrahim Ghaith, a Syrian barber who fled Damascus in 2013, told Reuters in Jordan: “Today we heard that the measures may have been abolished but we are not sure if this is just talk. If they go back on the decision, people will be overjoyed.”
Iraqi refugee Nizar al-Qassab said in Lebanon: “If it really has been frozen, I thank God, because my wife and children should have been in America by now.”
The 52-year-old said his family had been due to travel to the US for resettlement on January 31. The trip was cancelled two days before that, and he was now waiting for a phone call from UN officials overseeing their case. “It’s in God’s hands,” he said.
Two Sudanese travellers said they were trying to travel as soon as possible, fearing the ban might be reinstated. They declined to be named, for fear of possible consequences.
“I’m in a race against time,” said a 31-year-old female academic who said international airlines were still refusing to sell her a ticket. “Now I am going from one airline company to another to convince them about the court’s decision.”
Qatar Airways B787
