A businessman in Qatar is flying 4,000 cows into the Gulf country to tackle the shortage of milk after Saudi Arabia and other major Arab nations cut diplomatic ties with Doha on June 5.
In what it calls the biggest bovine airlift in history, Moutaz Al Khayyat, chairman of Power International Holding, bought the cows from Australia and the US and it will take around 60 flights for Qatar Airways to deliver the 590-kg beasts, first reported by Bloomberg.
Al Khayyat has been expanding his agricultural business at a farm that is located about 50 km from Doha.
“It will start providing fresh milk by June-end. By mid-July, it will cover one- third of Qatar’s demand,” Al Khayyat said.
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On June 5, Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt cut ties with Qatar accusing it of supporting extremism, in the biggest diplomatic crisis to hit the region in years. Qatar reacted with fury, denying any support for extremists and accusing its Gulf neighbours of seeking to put the country under "guardianship".
Most of the fresh milk and dairy products for Doha’s more than 1 million population came from Saudi Arabia up until June 5.
According to the Bloomberg report, Turkish dairy goods have been flown in, and Iranian fruit and vegetables are on the way. There’s also a campaign to buy home-grown produce.
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On Sunday, Iran had sent five planes of vegetables to Qatar.
“So far five planes carrying... vegetables have been sent to Qatar, each carrying around 90 tonnes of cargo, while another plane will be sent on Sunday,” Iran Air spokesman Shahrokh Noushabadi had told AFP.
AFP reported that Qatar Airways called on the United Nations’ aviation body to declare the Gulf boycott against the carrier “illegal” and a violation of a 1944 convention on international air transport.
