A technical issue has delayed the first repatriation flight to the UK that was chartered by the British government. The flight was scheduled to depart late last night from Muscat, Oman, but took off earlier today (March 5) instead.
Oman's airspace remains open and has now become a key zone to bypass the airspace restrictions and other challenges presented by the conflict in the region.
The UK Foreign Office said over 130,000 British nationals have registered interest in securing assistance in leaving the region.
Two more chartered flights are expected to depart by the end of the week. Eligible passengers are being asked to pay for their seat.
KLM landed in Amsterdam's Schiphol airport from Oman yesterday morning. The plane carried 91 Dutch people that were either tourists or living in the region that wanted to return home. A further 160 people on the flight worked for KLM and other airlines.
El Al, Israir, and Arkia have started to operate repatriation flights after Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport reopened to limited operations. It is estimated that around 100,000 Israelis have been unable to return home since Israel closed its airspace on Saturday, according to local media.
Additionally, Finnair said yesterday it is “investigating possibilities" to operate repatriation flights from the Middle East.
"The European Civil Aviation Authority continues to advise avoiding the airspace of Muscat, but if the situation develops in a positive direction, this is one option that we will investigate,” said Finnair chief operating officer Jaako Schildt.
Finnair said that if this does become an option, its passengers will need to transfer to Muscat by land. The airline is investigating whether it can assist Finns with land transport and border crossing arrangements.