Qatar Airways is defending the decision to leave a husband a wife sitting next to a dead passenger on a 15-hour flight, insisting Friday that its crew “acted quickly, appropriately and professionally.”

The airline addressed the scandal after Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin discussed their shock at being left next to the body for around four hours after an unidentified female passenger suffered a fatal medical emergency on a long-haul flight from Australia to their vacation in Qatar.

“It is an unfortunate reality that unexpected deaths do sometimes occur on board aircraft across the aviation industry, and our crew are highly trained to deal with these situations with as much respect and dignity as possible,” Qatar Airways said in a statement to NBC News after concluding an internal review.

“It is clear that Qatar Airways cabin crew acted quickly, appropriately and professionally at all times in line with training and industry standard practice,” the statement said.

The airline also claimed that passengers were accommodated to other seats and that a crew member sat beside the couple and the deceased passenger until the plane landed in Doha.

“We have been in direct contact with the family of the deceased as well as other passengers who were directly affected by this difficult situation and have offered emotional support and compensation,” the statement said.

Ring and Colin — who were on their way to Venice for a vacation — still said the airline would not allow them to change their seats during the harrowing ordeal and were told to stay in place as first responders came to retrieve the body, A Current Affair reported.

The Australian couple, who had two spare seats in their row of four, said the “frustrated” flight crew then asked them to shift over so they could prop the corpse up alongside them.

“They said, ‘Can you move over, please?’ and I just said, ‘Yes, no problem,’” Ring told the outlet.

“Then they placed the lady in the chair I was in.”

A shocking photo of the grim ordeal captured Ring watching his TV as the woman’s body sat next to him.

Ring claims he spent four hours sitting next to the woman’s blanket-covered body before they were told to remain in their seats for first responders.

“I can’t believe they told us to stay … it wasn’t nice,” Ring said.

“They have a duty of care towards their customers as well as their staff. We should be contacted to make sure, do you need some support, do you need some counseling?” Ring said, expressing frustration at the airline for not offering more support.

The airline emphasized their sympathy “with all those involved in this sad situation” in the Friday statement.

“Our thoughts remain with the family members of the passenger who passed away on board our flight,” the airline said.