{"id":455014,"date":"2026-03-03T08:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T08:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/455014\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T08:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T08:47:15","slug":"some-flights-depart-middle-east-amid-travel-chaos-as-us-urges-its-citizens-to-leave-region-us-israel-war-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/455014\/","title":{"rendered":"Some flights depart Middle East amid travel chaos as US urges its citizens to leave region | US-Israel war on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Travellers stranded by a widening war in the Middle East began departing the United Arab Emirates<\/a> onboard a small number of evacuation flights on Monday, as governments around the world worked to extract their citizens from the region.<\/p>\n

Etihad Airways and Emirates, the airlines based in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, respectively, and the budget carrier FlyDubai said they would operate limited flights after the chaos and damaged<\/a> caused by Iranian missiles and drones.<\/p>\n

Since Saturday, at least 11,000 flights into, out of and within the Middle East have been cancelled, affecting more than 1 million passengers, according to the aviation analytics company Cirium. The travel chaos looks set to continue, with the US president, Donald Trump, saying<\/a> on Monday that the conflict had been projected to last four to five weeks but it could go on longer.<\/p>\n

Late on Monday the US state department called on Americans to immediately depart more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, amid the worsening conflict triggered by US-Israeli strikes against Iran on Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mora Namdar, the state department\u2019s assistant secretary for consular affairs, said US citizens should leave using available commercial transportation \u201cdue to safety risks\u201d. The US has not organised its own evacuation flights.<\/p>\n

In the UK, the prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the government was sending rapid deployment teams to the region to support British nationals there, and wanted \u201cto ensure that they can return home as swiftly and safely as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

He told MPs: \u201cWe\u2019re asking all British citizens in the region to register their presence so we can provide the best possible support and to monitor the Home Office travel advice, which is being regularly updated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"US-IsraelUS-Israel war on Iran: what maps tells us about the unfolding Middle East crisis \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Etihad Airways flight EY67, carrying stranded UK nationals, departed from Abu Dhabi on Monday afternoon and landed at Heathrow on Monday evening, according to the flight tracking company Flightradar24.<\/p>\n

The UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, indicated that 102,000 British nationals had registered their presence in the region, and that about 300,000 British citizens were in Gulf countries being targeted by Iran.<\/p>\n

Dubai\u2019s government urged passengers on Monday to go to airports only if contacted directly, warning that operations remained limited.<\/p>\n

At least 16 Etihad flights left Abu Dhabi during a three-hour window on Monday, according to Flightradar24, heading to destinations including Islamabad, Paris, Amsterdam, Mumbai, Moscow and London. The airline\u2019s website, however, said all its regularly scheduled commercial flights remained suspended until Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Emirates said customers with earlier bookings would get priority for seats onboard the limited flights it planned to operate starting Monday evening. FlyDubai said it would operate four flights departing the city and another five arriving planes on Monday, adding that schedules could quickly change as the situation evolved.<\/p>\n

The select departures brought some relief but did not indicate a return to business as usual.<\/p>\n

Airspace closures remained in effect for Iran, Iraq and Israel, and Jordan instituted one starting Monday and lasting overnight. Total or partial closures in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria were expected to expire on Monday but could be expanded, according to Flightradar24.<\/p>\n

Even when the restrictions are lifted, commercial flights may not immediately resume. Airlines that operate evacuation flights are doing so with government backing, and the carriers\u2019 home countries may be assuming part of the financial risk, said Henry Harteveldt, the president of travel market research company Atmosphere Research Group.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the countries reopen their airspace, that certainly is helpful,\u201d Harteveldt said. \u201cBut airlines aren\u2019t going to resume operations until they are fully confident that there is a zero \u2013 or as close as possible to zero \u2013 risk that their aircraft will be attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s foreign ministry said about 30,000 tourists from the country were stranded on cruise ships, in hotels or at closed airports in the Middle East. The government said it plans to send aircraft to Oman and Saudi Arabia to evacuate ill travellers, children and pregnant people while working with airlines to assist others.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday morning, Europe\u2019s biggest holidays company, Tui, said it will begin to offer flights back home for its 10,000 customers stranded in the Middle East from today working with Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect to carry out the first flights today with these companies to return our guests,\u201d its chief executive, Sebastian Ebel, told broadcaster NTV.<\/p>\n

The Philippines upgraded its travel advisory on Monday for the United Arab Emirates, placing it \u2013 along with Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia \u2013 at a level that automatically triggers a deployment ban on newly hired Filipino workers, the country\u2019s foreign affairs department said.<\/p>\n

Indonesia said more than 58,000 of its citizens were stranded in Saudi Arabia, where they were visiting Islam\u2019s holy sites in Mecca and Medina during Ramadan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has become an urgent humanitarian and logistical issue,\u201d said Ichsan Marsha, spokesperson for Indonesia\u2019s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, which was coordinating with the Saudi authorities, airlines and Indonesian travel operators to arrange alternative routes or rescheduled flights.<\/p>\n

About 2,000 South Koreans were stranded in Dubai, a South Korean lawmaker said on Tuesday. Kim Young-bae of the ruling Democratic party said the foreign ministry was working to secure their return.<\/p>\n

The Czech Republic said it was sending several planes to Egypt, Jordan and Oman to bring home citizens from Israel and surrounding countries.<\/p>\n

Leela Rao, a 29-year-old law student at Georgetown University in Washington, made it on to one of Monday\u2019s Etihad flights. She said she learned of the airstrikes while waiting to make a connection in Abu Dhabi on Saturday and spent hours at the airport after news updates, hearing explosions and receiving shelter-in-place alerts before the airline arranged a hotel stay in Dubai.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am feeling so, so, so grateful,\u201d Rao said via text message after arriving in Delhi in time for a friend\u2019s wedding. \u201cEveryone clapped when we landed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associated Press, Press Association and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Travellers stranded by a widening war in the Middle East began departing the United Arab Emirates onboard a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-455014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}