An interior view of the airport.
DOHA: The opening of Hamad International Airport (HIA), which was scheduled for 12.20am today, has been cancelled. The last-minute cancellation of the much-publicised event followed a directive from the Civil Defence Department.
In a late-night announcement Abdulaziz Al Noaimi, the Chairman of the New Doha International Airport (NDIA) Steering Committee said yesterday they were forced to put off the April 1 inauguration as the airport did not meet the newly introduced safety and security requirements mandated by the Civil Defence Department.
The inauguration of the new airport will be held on another date. The date will be announced shortly, Al Noaimi said in a brief statement.
“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”, he added.
As per the original schedule, the national carrier Qatar Airways was supposed to arrive at the HIA at 12.20am in the wee hours of today.
The steering committee of the new airport had made elaborate arrangements for the soft-launch of the new facility.
On Saturday, the media who had received the invitation to cover the inaugural event were advised by the airport steering committee to report at the airport at 10.30pm to cover the scheduled 12.20 arrival of the inaugural flight. Many of them turned up to the airport to hear that the event stood cancelled.
The airport steering committee had stocked a huge number of specially-designed gift packets to welcome the arriving and departing passengers on the inaugural day.
