Economic blockade is failing: Al-Baker

“All the people (in Qatar) have a normal life, all the supplies are available, and actually more than what it was before, so what is the problem?” he told reporters yesterday.Al-Baker was speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of a giant canvas, which displays the iconic image of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani at the airline’s corporate headquarters in Doha.He stressed that the people in neighbouring countries need to know that “such kind of bullying doesn’t work because the people of Qatar are very robust.”“We have no issue to have our normal life. For us, this is a loss for them, not for us,” he said.The Qatar government has taken all necessary measures to guarantee that normal life continues in the country, Gulf Times had previously reported. Fresh food items such as vegetables and fruits, as well as milk and numerous dairy products, are also continuously being filled on the shelves of hypermarkets in Qatar.“If people think that they can dent our confidence in the government with their illegal acts, this proves to everybody around the world that actually, we have very high regard and Inshallah His Highness our Emir will be glorious, exactly as it is mentioned in the picture,” al-Baker pointed out.“Well I must mention very clearly that His Highness the Emir is the glorious person and this blockade and this kind of pressuring and bullying our country is not working and at the end of it, His Highness will be the victorious person,” he stressed.About Qatar Airways’ operations amid the ongoing blockade, al-Baker said they are largely unaffected and all their flights are operating normally.He noted that the national carrier is continuously growing, citing the launch of two new destinations this month and another five in August.Qatar Airways’ expansion plans this year and in 2018 include flying to Canberra, Australia; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; San Francisco, US; and Santiago, Chile, among others.In Eastern Europe alone, there will be new services to Skopje, Macedonia and Prague, Czech Republic commencing this summer, Qatar Airways said in a statement.Qatar Airways also received a number awards this year, including Airline of the Year by the prestigious 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards, held at the Paris Air Show. Box:HIA Hamad International Airport’s vice-president for commercial and marketing Abdulaziz Abdulla al-Mass said that everything at the airport is operating smoothly despite the blockade.