Maldives has indeed been bought off and is part of the anti-Qatari alliance, and I'm wondering what the Saudis and Emiratis have managed to do with the India government too, since the Maldives is traditionally in the Indian sphere of influence. DOH-MLE is a casualty of those lined up against SoQ/QR. If the Maldives moved in line with what India may have been asked to do too and ends up going as have the Maldives, then QR's market is going to dry up very quickly.
Originally Posted by
delfindo
Food costs will rise big time indeed. And QR's cost of catering with it.
Reports are that 40% of the food coming into Qatar comes via Saudi Arabia. A "starve them" approach by some of Qatar's neighbors will increase QR's costs of operating and have direct implications for QR's catering. Air and sea lift of consumables via Iran won't do it for QR and the rest of the Qataris without a huge increase in price and/or shift in product range/quality.