British Airways (BA) has announced it is pausing repatriation flights to the UK from Oman due to “reduced demand”, in addition to cancelling more flights across the Middle East.
Limited tickets remain on sale for two scheduled services from Muscat to London Heathrow on 11 and 12 March, after which the flights will pause, BA said.
BA flights to and from Amman in Jordan, Bahrain, Doha in Qatar, Dubai and Tel Aviv in Israel have also been cancelled until 28 March, and services to Abu Dhabi – a winter only route for the airline – will not restart until October.
A reduced service to Larnaca, Cyprus, is still operating.
“We’re keeping the situation under constant review and are in touch with our customers to offer them a range of options,” BA said in a statement on Tuesday.
Thousands of flights to and from the Middle East have been cancelled since late February, following Iranian strikes across the region in retaliation to US and Israeli bombardment – leaving many Britons stranded.
What’s the latest on UK government chartered flights?
Four government chartered flights have brought home UK nationals from the Middle East since Friday. The fourth flight arrived in the UK from Dubai on Tuesday morning, with another expected to depart the country that evening.
The UK Foreign Office has opened a booking portal for further chartered flights, but a government minister said commercial flights are “by far the most likely and the most rapid” routes out.
While new flights have been announced, the conflict is rapidly evolving and circumstances around air travel could change quickly.
Around 45,000 British nationals have returned to the UK since 1 March.
On Monday, UK Defence Secretary John Healey said more than 170,000 Britons had registered their presence in the Middle East.
Which flights are departing from the United Arab Emirates?
On Friday, Etihad announced that it would begin operating limited flights from Abu Dhabi to last through this week, following “extensive safety and security assessments”.
It included scheduled services to London Heathrow and Manchester in the UK.
Emirates is also operating a reduced flight schedule.
Flights to Manchester, Birmingham, London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London Stansted, Edinburgh and Newcastle are scheduled for this week and available to book, according to its website.
Emirates said on Friday it would be operating 11 daily flights across five airports, subject to ongoing airspace approvals.
Are there any flights leaving Qatar?
Qatar’s airspace has been temporarily restricted, but limited repatriation flights are operating to and from Doha.
Qatar Airways has announced a limited schedule of flights to and from Doha from Monday through to Thursday, including to London Heathrow.
Passengers affected by the disruption are being contacted directly by the airline with further instructions, and travellers have been told not to go to the airport unless they have received an official flight confirmation.
The airline said it would resume other operations once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announced the safe full reopening of the country’s airspace.
Are flights from Oman running?
Oman’s capital, Muscat, has emerged as a key transit hub for people wanting to leave the Middle East.
British Airways has been running daily repatriation flights from Muscat to London Heathrow since 5 March.
On Tuesday, BA – which does not normally serve Muscat – announced it would pausing the service, following the departures of two final scheduled flights on 11 and 12 March.
The UK Foreign Office has not advised against travel to the area where the airport is located.
Oman Air said it is operating extra flights to and from Muscat between 10 and 15 March, including to London Heathrow.
Many travellers have headed to Oman to secure a seat on a flight back to the UK [Reuters]
What about Bahrain flights?
On Tuesday, Gulf Air said it has opened bookings for “limited flights” between Dammam, in Saudi Arabia, and London Heathrow from 11 March, for passengers eligible to travel to and from Bahrain. Dammam is accessible from Bahrain by road.
The airspace above Bahrain is closed, meaning there are no flights departing from Bahrain International Airport.
Gulf Air, Bahrain’s national carrier, said operations are suspended until the Bahrain Civil Aviation Authority confirmed it was safe to resume.
Passengers with bookings up to 21 March are being offered flexible rebooking or refunds.
Can I fly to the Middle East from the UK?
The Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
While most flights to the Middle East from the UK have been cancelled following the missile strikes, some are still operating.
Some commercial flights went ahead as scheduled over the weekend and the start of this week, but disruption persisted.
On Monday and Tuesday, several commercial flights to the Middle East were cancelled, including Qatar Airways flights to Doha and Riyadh from London Heathrow.
Early on Tuesday, some planes arriving in Dubai were temporarily placed in a holding pattern due to a potential missile attack, flight tracking website Flightradar24 said on X. The flights later landed.
Elsewhere, some airlines said they were adjusting their routes as passengers try to avoid the Middle East disruption.
According to Reuters, Qantas said it was exploring redeploying capacity to Europe, while Cathay Pacific said it was adding more flights to London and Zurich in March as fares on their routes to Europe rose.
Correction: This article originally described Hamish Falconer as a Home Office minister and has been amended to make clear that he’s a Foreign Office minister. His name was later removed from the story entirely following a news update on 10 March.
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