While airspace remains closed and no scheduled commercial flights are back up and running, airlines have begun repatriating western tourists out of the Middle East amid rising tensions in the region. Here is the latest travel updates on the matter…
The Irish Government is set to fly up to 280 Irish citizens home on a chartered flight from Oman this week, with more such flights being planned. Reportedly, some 25,000 Irish people situated in the Middle East have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs, with around 2,000 of them wanting to come back to Ireland.
Emirates is scheduled to fly around 400 Irish passengers home this evening – from Dubai to Dublin – on tickets that were cancelled last weekend. It is hoped the airline will announce further such flights in the coming days.
MSC Cruises has announced it is co-ordinating with airlines – particularly Emirates and Etihad – to identify and secure return flights for its guests. In a statement, MSC Cruises said: “We are requesting priority for our guests from our partners. At present, airlines operating flights have indicated that they will follow an order of priority based on the original flight date. In order to speed up the repatriation, we are working on other options such as chartering flights from Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Muscat. In parallel we are in constant contact with local authorities, Embassies and Foreign Offices to also support the safe return of our guests. The situation on board remains calm. We are providing guests with regular updates on the situation. They have full access to all onboard services and facilities, and we continue to provide a high standard of care, comfort and support.
Virgin Atlantic is set to fly from Dubai to London’s Heathrow Airport as part of the wider repatriation effort.
British Airways is also running an evacuation flight from Muscat, the capital of Oman, to London.
KLM has successfully completed an evacuation flight from Muscat to Amsterdam Schiphol this morning. This was done in conjunction with the Dutch Government.
Qatar Airways‘ scheduled flight operations remain temporarily suspended due to the closure of Qatari airspace. Qatar Airways will resume operations once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe reopening of Qatari airspace. A further update will be provided on Friday, the airline said today.
Etihad is also set to run two repatriation flights from Abu Dhabi to London. Etihad said in a statement, today: “Regional airspace closures continue to impact Etihad Airways’ operations, and all flights to and from Abu Dhabi are suspended until 06:00 UAE time on Friday 6 March. In co-ordination with UAE authorities and subject to strict operational and safety approvals, a limited number of repositioning, cargo and repatriation flights are operating. Select services are available for sale on etihad.com for travel on 4 and 5 March, where approvals have been confirmed.”
SWISS – part of the Lufthansa Group – has announced a special flight from Muscat to Zurich in order to bring stranded travellers home to Switzerland. The flight will travel tomorrow, following its journey from Zurich today.
