The Foreign Office has confirmed the first flight organised by the UK government has been delayed and did not depart Oman on Wednesday night (4 March) as planned. The BBC, citing an FCDO spokesperson, reports the flight was beset by technical issues, adding: "The flight is now expected to depart later today [Thursday 5 March]."
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, minister for border security and asylum Alex Norris confirmed the delay, and reiterated comments made by the prime minister in the House of Commons on Wednesday that "in the days to come, we're expecting more flights".
Norris said two more flights were scheduled, adding there had been an "uptick in commercial flights". It comes after Starmer told MPs more than 1,000 British nationals had arrived back in the UK via commercial flights from the United Arab Emirates.
There are understood to be more than 300,000 UK nationals in the Middle East region, in excess of 100,000 of whom have registered their presence there with the FCDO as the US and Israeli-led conflict in Iran and the effects for the wider region enter their sixth day.
Starmer said a further eight commercial flights had been due to depart the UAE for the UK on Wednesday, along with the – now delayed – first government charter flight back from Oman. "Two more will leave in the coming days," he confirmed.
Starmer continued: "I can announce we will lay on additional charter flights in coming days. British Airways is laying on an extra flight from Oman, and the foreign secretary will have further discussions today [Wednesday]."
Commercial options
Elsewhere, Qatar Airways has confirmed it will on Thursday (5 March) begin operating a limited number of relief flights to support passengers stranded in the country owing to the crisis in the region.
The flights will operate from Oman's capital Muscat owing to the ongoing closure of Qatari airspace. Services are planned to Heathrow, Berlin, Copenhagen, Madrid, Rome and Amsterdam, while Frankfurt services will operate from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
Anyone looking to leave the region have been urged not head to any departure airports in the hope of getting a Qatar Airways service unless they have received official notification from the airline for these flights.
Qatar will provide a further update on its airspace by 9am local time on Friday (6 March). It follows the UAE's decision to open "safe air corridors" to facilitate a limited number of repatriation flights, currently up to 48 an hour.
Emirates is operating a reduced schedule out of Dubai International until further notice, accommodating passengers with earlier bookings as a priority.
Etihad Airways said it is operating "a limited number of repositioning and repatriation flights" from its Abu Dhabi base, but stresses scheduled commercial flights to and from the emirate remain suspended until at least 6am local time on Friday.
UK carriers
British Airways has stressed it remains unable to operate flights from Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv. It is scheduling additional London flights from Muscat to get people home, although extra flights departing Muscat over the coming days (5-7 March) were fully booked within hours of being announced.
"We will continue to review the situation and if we are able to, we will add additional services," said BA in an update issued shortly after 2pm on Wednesday. Flights are being offered to customers in Oman or the UAE with existing bookings as a priority.
Virgin Atlantic, which flies between London and Riyadh, on Wednesday confirmed that "following extensive and ongoing safety and security assessments, and in line with guidance from international aviation authorities", it intends to operate its flying programme as planned "provided it remains safe to do so".
Wizz Air, meanwhile, has suspended all flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman up to and on Sunday 15 March. Flights from the UK to Jeddah and Medina will restart on Sunday (8 March). Wizz is redeploying capacity previously assigned to Israel to Egypt to offer another route out of the region.
New FCDO advice
Other developments in the region include the FCDO on Wednesday moving to advise against but essential travel to Kuwait, and later to Saudi Arabia's Riyadh and Eastern provinces, plus all areas of Lebanon.
It continues to advice against all but essential travel to the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Jordan, as well as Israel, Palestine and Iran.
