Qatar Airways plans to push ahead with the proposed introduction of flights into Canberra, despite the diplomatic crisis engulfing its home country.
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The suspension of diplomatic ties to Qatar by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain earlier this month raised doubts about the state-owned airline's planned route expansion during the next 12 months.
The cessation of ties included an airspace ban on Qatar-registered aircraft over Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the UAE.
The blockade restricted access to airspace to the east, south and west of Qatar Airway's hub of Hamad International Airport in Doha.
Flights travelling toward Australia have been forced to take an indirect route over Oman or Iran in order to avoid the forbidden airspace, adding extra time to the trip.
Before the blockade, Qatar Airways announced plans to introduce flights to Canberra as early as February next year, one of 24 new destinations to be rolled out in the 2017-18 financial year.
A statement from the company confirmed that it intended to continue with the network expansion despite the diplomatic crisis.
"Qatar Airways' global operations continue to run smoothly, with the vast majority of our network unaffected by the current circumstances," th airline's chief executive, Akbar Al Baker said.
"As far as we are concerned, it is business as usual."
Qatar was named Airline of the Year in the Skytrax World Airline Awards on Tuesday despite the country's difficulties.
"At these difficult times of illegal bans on flights out of my country by big bullies, this is an award not to me, not to my airline, but to my country," Mr Al Baker said.
A spokeswoman from Canberra Airport said the decision on whether to continue with plans to open the new route was a matter for Qatar Airways.
If the plan goes ahead, Qatar would become the second airline to offer international flights out of Canberra.
Singapore Airlines began flights to Wellington and Singapore in September last year.
The airport has also been reported to have approached major Chinese airlines to consider direct routes into the capital.
Labor promised at last year's ACT election to set aside $770,000 to court more international airlines into Canberra, with Air New Zealand and Cathay Pacific among those considered.
China was the largest international visitor market to Canberra, according to recent figures, followed by Britain, the United States and New Zealand.
The number of international visitors to Canberra grew to a record high in 2016, with a 6.5 per cent increase on the previous year's numbers.
Visitors from Singapore rose 73.5 per cent after the direct flights to the country began.
