The inaugural Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin landed yesterday as the airline pleaded with the UN to intervene in the crisis which has seen the Middle Eastern country cut off from its neighbours. 

Oil prices were largely flat yesterday after steep losses the previous session, with rising US production weighing against comments from leading Gulf oil producers that an extension to Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting (Opec)-led supply cuts was likely.

Opec clinched a deal to curtail oil supply, confounding sceptics as the need to clear a record global crude glut — and prove the group’s credibility — brought its first cuts in eight years.

Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said he is happy with the level of the company’s 15% stake in Aer Lingus and British Airways owner IAG and will not seek a seat on the company board.

Qatar Airways has raised its stake in IAG — which owns British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and Vueling — close to 12%, strengthening ties built around the access that BA provides to North America, via London, and the Gulf carrier’s network of Asian routes.

The value of the US and UK’s special relationship has been reaffirmed in the wake of Barack Obama’s criticism of David Cameron for his actions over Libya that allowed it to become a “shit show”.

Some Gulf oil producers are concerned about the latest drop in oil prices, said Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) delegates, but they see little chance of the group diverting from its policy of defending market share.

Irish-managed exploration investment firm T5 Oil and Gas is believed to be still talking to UK explorer Gulf Keystone regarding a potential reverse takeover of the company.

Five of Europe’s biggest airline groups, including Ryanair, have joined forces for the first time to lobby the European Commission to cut taxes and reduce air traffic control strikes as part of the new aviation strategy being drawn up.

T5 Oil and Gas, the exploration investment firm headed by former Tullow Oil executives, has designs on becoming a publicly listed “multibillion-dollar” company and is targeting completion of its first reverse takeover deal before the end of this year.

TWO connected events of recent days represent a huge moral challenge to the West and Africa’s functioning states, especially its oil-rich Arab countries. 

T5 Oil and Gas — the Dublin and London-based exploration firm headed up by former Tullow Oil directors — is expected to take control of loss-making UK explorer Gulf Keystone before the summer.

Since Saudi Arabia's foundation, its leaders have tried to keep a friendly regime in power in Yemen to prevent it from posing a threat. However, Mohamad Bazzi says this time the stakes are higher

The latest phase of a US trial to decide how much BP should pay in penalties for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has ended.

The latest phase of a US trial to decide how much BP should pay in penalties for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has ended.

Qatar Airways and the owner of British Airways have vowed to strengthen ties after the Gulf carrier snapped up a 10% stake in its European counterpart.

Surabaya, Indonesia

Pilots at Lufthansa are to take part in a strike affecting long-haul flights from Frankfurt tomorrow, resuming a campaign of targeted walkouts after contract talks broke down last week.

Two examples of all-new technology flew over our house last weekend and in so doing, highlighted both threats and opportunities that exist for Ireland from commercial air travel.

Ireland’s agri-food and equine sectors are set for a major boost in the Gulf States of Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Egypt’s Central Bank paid back US$2bn (€1.5bn) in aid to Qatar despite its faltering economy and refused a request by Qatari airlines to increase flights, authorities said today, marking a new low in relations between the two countries.

A top leader of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel has been captured in a military operation near the US border with Texas, the second major capture since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office last December.

European network carriers including Air France-KLM Group and Deutsche Lufthansa face a heightened challenge from Ryanair-led discount airlines and Gulf operators serving routes to Asia, analysis by Amadeus IT Holding SA shows.

An explosion and fire ripped through a Gulf oil platform in the US today as workers used a cutting torch, sending four people to a hospital with burns and leaving two missing in the sea off Louisiana.

BP has agreed with the US to pay billions over the Gulf oil spill, according to a source close to the deal.

A man believed to be the leader of the Gulf drug cartel, which controls some of the most valuable and violently contested smuggling routes along the US border, was arrested by Mexican marines and paraded before the public.

A man believed to be the leader of the Gulf drug cartel, which controls some of the most valuable and violently contested smuggling routes along the US border, has been arrested by Mexican marines, the navy said.

Oil giant BP today said it has agreed to sell assets in the US Gulf of Mexico for a total of $5.6bn to an American petroleum firm.

Al-Qaida gunmen shot dead four soldiers in one of the militants’ former south Yemen strongholds as the local governor declared that the country’s ill-equipped police force is incapable of filling the security void left by months of clashes.

Al Qaida gunmen shot four soldiers dead in one of the militants’ former south Yemen strongholds today, officials said, as the local governor declared that the country’s ill-equipped police force is incapable of filling the security void left by months of clashes.

Marks and Spencer’s underperforming Irish operations helped drag down the retail giant’s international division sales by 2% in the last quarter.

A coalition of more than 70 partners, including the United States, has pledged to send millions of dollars and communications equipment to Syria’s opposition groups.

The Obama administration is seeking to advance talks among Saudi Arabia and its neighbours on a missile defence system against Iran, while slowing any plans among Arab Gulf states to intervene militarily in Syria.

BP has agreed to settle claims from thousands of fishermen who lost work and others who said they were harmed by the oil giant’s 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in US history.

Abed Rabo Mansour Hadi has been sworn in as Yemen’s new president, replacing Ali Abdullah Saleh who ruled the country for 33 years before leaving office in a power transfer deal aimed at ending more than a year of political turmoil.

The top US Navy official in the Gulf said he takes Iran’s military capabilities seriously but insists his forces are prepared to confront any Iranian aggression in the region.

Aer Lingus share price rose by more that 6% yesterday after Etihad Airways, the Middle East’s third-largest carrier, said it may invest in the Irish airline.