The airspace blockade imposed on Qatar since 6 June by a group of countries led by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain will enable Qatar Airways to pursue its growth strategy since the capacity restraint that kept them from executing their plan last year to increase their network coverage to 24 new destinations is now gone.

“Now that we have released capacity from the 18 destinations from where we have been banned illegally to operate, we are now going to accelerate [introducing our services] in other regions in the world where we feel we will mitigate the reduction in passengers in these 18 destinations,” Akbar al-Baker, the outspoken CEO of Qatar Airways told state-owned Al-Jazeera in an interview on 13 June. “We have a robust plan B.”

Al-Baker described the airspace blockade as a form of Qatar’s neighbours ganging up on the state and that the measure is unprecedented at a time of peace. “Qatar is very resilient and it has friends and we have managed to ensure that life will continue as normal,” he said.

The CEO added that their biggest priority as an airline is to have a gateway in and out of Qatar, which he says they are handling successfully. They are also working to ensure that passengers who have booked flights with them are either re-routed or if they choose to fly with another airline get a full refund. “If they choose to invest in Qatar Airways we will make sure that we will give them the best care,” he said. “We are strong financially, we will persevere… there is no risk of losing money that they have invested in Qatar Airways.”

Al-Baker warned that the blockade will inevitably affect all national airlines in the region.

“What it [blockade] is also doing is letting the entire region’s air connectivity confidence to be lost, so they are in the same basket [as us]… they should not think that they will be laughing their way to the bank while they put economic pain in my country,” Al-Baker warned.

Al-Baker was in a meeting in Cancun, Mexico on 5 June when the airscpace closures of its neighbouring countries was announced. The executive travelled the same day back to Qatar on board an executive jet citing some difficulties in finding re-routes before reaching Doha.

Qatar Airways has reported net profits amounting to QR1.97bn ($541m) for the fiscal year ending March 2017, up 22 per cent compared to the figure reported in 2015.

The Doha-based airline’s financial performance stands in strong contrast with Dubai-based Emirates Airline, which reported profits during the same period declined by 70 per cent to $670m.

The airspace blockade imposed on Qatar Airways by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and some of their allies, however, means Qatar Airways could face a quick reversal of its financial fortune.

The closure of airspaces in these countries as a result of the ongoing diplomatic crisis with its GCC neighbours had meant the airline has to ground flights to a total of 18 destinations in the region, and utilise longer routes, primarily through Iran’s airspace, for its international flights.

Al-Baker said they expect to underperform this year but will be looking to find new routes to mitigate the loss resulting from the stoppage of flights to existing destinations.

“We will underperform but not to the extent of our neighbours because Qatar Airways has a very strong growth plan,” Al-Baker said.