Qatar Airways plans to take legal action against Jordan for having grounded one of its aircraft in Amman for two weeks in June, Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Al-Ragheb said.
Jordan impounded the plane after it flew in an exiled Hamas leader in June and the airline refused to fly him back to Doha. The authorities allowed in the Hamas leader, Ibrahim Ghosheh, after a two-week standoff at the airport under a deal which stipulated he refrained from any political activity in the kingdom. Jordan's Civil Aviation Authority then allowed the plane and crew to fly back to Qatar. "They have sent us a legal notice that they want to sue us," Abu Ragheb told foreign journalists in Amman. Officials said the airline would seek $2.2 million in damages for breach of international aviation conventions. But Abu Ragheb said Jordan was on solid legal grounds when it told the airline it had to fly Ghosheh back on the same plane that flew him in.