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As flights to the Middle East cease, governments plan repatriations

Commercial flights have been grounded in some parts of the Middle East due to an escalating conflict after U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. This has left foreigners stranded and prompted governments to plan for repatriation.

Here is what the governments have said about plans for repatriation:

AUSTRIA Austria’s Foreign Ministry said that it had assisted 117 vulnerable citizens to leave the UAE and Israel through neighbouring countries and had planned for a 170 person?charter flights from Muscat, on March 4, while warning travellers that they would have to take land departures at their own risk.

BULGARIA

GullivAir and Bulgaria Air, along with the State Aviation Operator, planned three flights to'return Bulgarians from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Oman between March 4 and March 5. These included a GullivAir flight of 326 seats from Dubai, a Bulgaria Air Boeing 737 via 'Oman, and a 90-seat Government aircraft from Abu Dhabi.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Petr Macinka, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that around 1,400 people had arrived in the Czech Republic via repatriation flight.

ESTONIA

On March 4, the Estonian foreign ministry announced that it had organized a 180-seater flight to Muscat for the next day. This flight was available to Estonian citizens living in Oman or the United Arab Emirates.

EUROPEAN UNION As more members request assistance, the European Commission is now coordinating flights for repatriation under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

A statement by the European Commission on March 9 stated that the EU had supported more than 42 flights to date, which brought over 4,100 Europeans back safely to Belgium, Bulgaria Czechia Italy, Cyprus, Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria, Portugal Romania, Slovakia and Sweden.

FINLAND

The Finnish foreign ministry announced that Finland would be arranging a single flight to repatriate about 160 Finns stranded on the island of the United Arab Emirates, on 8 March.

Finnair announced on March 6th that it would be operating flights from Muscat to Helsinki in order to transport customers stranded at Dubai home. The first flight will take place on March 10 with additional flights scheduled later in the week.

FRANCE

The French Foreign Minister said that several flights to bring back French nationals who are currently in the area (around 400,000) were being planned as of March 4.

France has deployed consular teams to Israel's border with Egypt and Jordan in order to facilitate the land exit of people so they can continue their journey by air. A similar mechanism has been implemented in the UAE, at the borders with Oman, Saudi Arabia and other countries, where there is no restriction on airspace.

GERMANY

After the first flight landed in Frankfurt on March 5, the German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul announced that two flights, each carrying about 250 passengers, were planned for March 5-6.

GREECE

The Greek Foreign Ministry said that it had repatriated hundreds citizens from Abu Dhabi, Dubai Jerusalem, Oman, and the UAE in the last week.

HUNGARY On March 4, 87 people returned to Hungary from Amman in Jordan. Another flight, carrying 88 passengers, is scheduled for March 5.

A second flight from Sharm-el Sheikh in Egypt was also scheduled for the 6th of March. Hungary rented a Flydubai aircraft for March '5 and '6 to bring Hungarians back from Dubai. On March 7 and 8, Hungary had two separate flights departing from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

ITALY The Italian foreign ministry reported that about 25,000 Italians returned from the Middle East via commercial flights facilitated through the ministry.

The consular service has been expanded in Oman, the UAE, and Bahrain. It also coordinates the return of large groups from the UAE, and other groups travelling via land to Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Italians living in Oman and Israel as well as the Maldives, Thailand, and Thailand receive assistance.

Netherlands

The Dutch government said on Friday that it is preparing to use the military to repatriate citizens who cannot leave their countries on their own. The Dutch government did not give any details about specific countries or timing.

POLAND

Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces reported that the first group of Polish nationals evacuated from the Middle East by military airlift arrived in Poland on 6 March.

PORTUGAL

The Portuguese Foreign Ministry is planning to repatriate more of the 139 Portuguese and eight foreigners on board a charter TAP flight that landed at Lisbon, Portugal on March 6.

ROMANIA

The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced on 4 March that FlyDubai had scheduled two flights from Dubai to Bucharest for March 4 and 5. The ministry reported that FlyDubai had scheduled two flights to Bucharest on March 4 and 5.

SERBIA

Air Serbia's flight from Sharm el-Sheikh landed at Belgrade in the early hours of March 4 with 67 passengers. All were?evacuees from Israel.

SINGAPORE

The foreign affairs ministry announced on Facebook that the government would deploy an A330 multi-role air force aircraft to assist Singaporeans in departing Riyadh from the country on March 10. A second flight out of Saudi Arabia is planned for the 12th.

SLOVAKIA

The Slovakian government has conducted six repatriation flight with 248 passengers. 189 of them were Slovaks, and the remainder were foreigners. On Thursday, the Foreign Ministry announced that eight additional evacuation flights from Jordan and Oman would be carried out by the end the week.

SLOVENIA

The prime minister's statement said that Slovenia organized four buses to transport Slovenian citizens, including families with children, from Dubai to Muscat Airport in Oman on March 3.

Two more flights are scheduled for March 4, with the first flight to Slovenia being organised on 3 March.

According to Jose Manuel Albares, the Spanish government began evacuating citizens from?the Middle East? on March 3. More than 175 Spaniards arrived on a flight via Abu Dhabi.

Albares stated that Spain is also strengthening its embassies to the UAE, Saudi Arabia Oman, Bahrain and Bahrain in order to provide further support and facilitate repatriations.

SWEDEN

Sweden chartered a plane on Saturday to bring back 180 Swedes who were identified as vulnerable.

THAILAND

Thailand will?evacuate its nationals by land from Iran to Turkey between March 7 and 10 while those stranded in Iraq, Qatar and Bahrain as well as the UAE, Jordan and the UAE are either returning or will do so once airspace is reopened.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

State news agency WAM reports that the UAE Civil Aviation Authority plans to start operating "special flight" across all of the country's international airports in order to assist some of the tens and thousands of passengers stuck in the region to leave.

UNITED KINGDOM

The British Foreign Office reported that after 130,000 UK citizens registered for presence in the region, British chartered flight left Oman on 5 March after technical delays on 4 March. Priority was given to vulnerable UK nationals who wanted to leave the area.

(source: Reuters)