Arab and Islamic airspace blockade would damage Israel, finds UAE think tank

An Emirati-owned think tank has published a paper assessing the economic, political and security impact of a potential coordinated airspace blockade against Israel by Arab and Muslim-majority countries. 

The paper, published by Al Habtoor Research Centre on Wednesday, said the catalyst for such a coordinated action would be Israel’s strike on Doha on 9 September that targeted Hamas officials.

Al Habtoor Research Centre concluded that a coordinated airspace blockade in response to Israeli actions would inflict severe damage on Israel across multiple sectors of its economy. 

The report estimated that it would cause Israel’s GDP to contract between 4.8 and 5.7 percent, which would trigger a recession. 

A wide-scale blockade including OIC members such as Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia would sever direct flights to Israel’s east and south, creating a significant barrier to high growth markets in Asia and Africa. 

It estimated that detours which added four to six hours to flights could cost between $30,000 to $60,000 per flight. Israeli airline El-Al would likely suffer a reduction of revenue of between 60 to 75 percent, according to a “conservative estimate”. 

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