DUBAI — Thousands of flights have been canceled and hundreds of thousands of travelers are stranded as war rages in the Middle East region.
As the war involving Iran escalates and travel disruptions continue, European countries are expanding evacuation efforts to bring their citizens home.
The European Commission said at least six EU-backed repatriation flights had left the region since Wednesday, bringing European nationals back to Bulgaria, Italy, Austria and Slovakia.
Additional evacuation flights are planned in the coming days, the commission said in a statement.
The US State Department also announced an increase in evacuation flights across the region.
More than 17,500 Americans have returned to the United States from the Middle East since February 28, officials said.
Evacuation flights departed from regional hubs such as Dubai and Jeddah.
France, Germany and the Czech Republic are also planning flights to take their nationals out of the Middle East.
Britain said the first chartered evacuation flight from Oman’s capital Muscat since the conflict began was delayed due to technical problems, but said the plane was expected to depart soon.
According to the British Foreign Secretary, more than 300,000 British nationals are living in or moving through the Gulf.
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More than 11,000 flights scheduled to depart from major airports in 10 countries have been canceled since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, according to data from Flightradar24.
Flight data paints a grim picture of empty flight paths, which typically cross crowded skies. Some airports and airlines in the Gulf have completely suspended normal operations. As of March 4, 10 countries had completely or partially closed their airspace since the airstrikes, according to Flightradar 24.
Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s busiest aviation hubs connecting 291 destinations, has seen an 87% reduction in scheduled flights since February 28. The airport handled 4.9 million seats in February alone, according to the Official Aviation Guide, a reference source for air travel data.
Other airports in the region have also seen high rates of flight cancellations, including around 91% of flights from the emirate Sharjah, which borders Dubai, and 93% of flights from Doha, Qatar.
Some airports, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, began resuming operations on Wednesday, despite continued uncertainty in the region. — Agency
