The searches happened following the discovery of a newborn baby in a terminal toilet.
Qatar has apologised after female passengers, including 13 Australians, were strip-searched before a flight from Doha to Sydney.
It's emerged they were examined at Doha Airport earlier this month, following the discovery of a newborn baby in an airport terminal toilet.
The unidentified baby has been cared for since being found on 2 October, reports the BBC.
Qatar's government communications office issued a statement early on Wednesday that authorities discovered the newborn "concealed in a plastic bag and buried under garbage" at the airport.
It called the discovery an "egregious and life-threatening violation of the law".
The statement said officials searched for the baby's parents, "including on flights in the vicinity of where the newborn was found".
The government said: "While the aim of the urgently decided search was to prevent the perpetrators of the horrible crime from escaping, the state of Qatar regrets any distress or infringement on the personal freedoms of any traveller caused by this action."
"It was absolutely terrible.''
The searches came to light when Australian women spoke out, while women from other countries were also examined.
Kim Mills told the Guardian she was among those taken off the flight and led into a dark car park, where three ambulances were waiting to perform medical examinations.
However, officials did not subject her to the examination due, she suspected, to her being in her 60s. Even so, she said, the experience was horrifying.
"My legs were just wobbling. I was terrified they were going to take me away somewhere. Why didn't they explain to us what was going on?" she said, adding that airplane staff later told her they didn't know what was happening.
"It was absolutely terrible. I can't imagine what it was like for those poor young girls."
Australia has described what happened as inappropriate and beyond circumstances in which the women could give free and informed consent.
Authorities are investigating.
