First UK government flight for Britons stuck in Middle East yet to take off

A flight chartered by the UK government to bring back some of the Britons stranded in the Middle East did not depart on Wednesday as planned.

Problems with getting passengers on board meant the plane, which had been due to leave Oman's capital Muscat, stayed grounded, according to Home Office minister Alex Norris.

He told the BBC he did not know what time the flight would now leave on Thursday after its delay.

Thousands of British nationals remain stuck in the Middle East since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday and retaliatory strikes by Iran across the Middle East.

More than 130,000 Britons in the region have registered for updates from the UK government.

Norris told BBC Breakfast more flights for Britons were expected in the coming days, with the Foreign Office confirming two more chartered flights would depart by the end of the week.

However, Norris was unable to confirm whether these would also be departing from Oman, or another location.

With regards the delayed flight, he told LBC: "It didn't take off because there are operational reasons... about getting passengers on board, and it wasn't able to happen in the time that it had to happen."

Those eligible for the government flights are being asked to pay for their seat.

Foreign Office officials said 138,000 British nationals in the Gulf had registered their presence, of whom 112,000 were in the UAE.

Britons unable to secure a seat on the charter flight have been looking for alternative ways home.

Sam Sahabandu, 47, from Northamptonshire, who got stuck in Muscat after his flight back to London from Sir Lanka was diverted was due to be on a Qatar Airways flight to Heathrow.

Sahabandu said that despite the disruption Muscat Airport appeared "relatively peaceful".

He said some passengers were being routed through other cities like Rome back to the UK.

Poppy Cleary, 27, is one of those stranded in Muscat after her flight from Singapore was diverted to Oman on Saturday.

"I registered, I paid the £350 and then I never heard back," she told BBC's Your Voice.

She said the British Embassy in Oman told her that the first flight was not for people who had been diverted to Muscat, but instead for people who had come to Oman from "unsafe countries" including the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.

"Clearly I didn't get on the flight - it's a bit frustrating that they couldn't even let me know that I hadn't made the cut."

One woman who had been selected for a space on the charter flight, said she had to decline her spot as her parents - who have indefinite leave to remain in the UK, but are Sri Lankan passport holders - were not eligible.

Erasha Amarasinghe, a 39-year-old doctor from Northampton, told BBC Your Voice: "I am travelling with my disabled mother and my father who has cognitive impairment […] I feel stuck as I cannot leave my parents behind."

Rajen Shah, 58, and his wife are among those with a seat on the Qatar Airways flight on Thursday. He the BBC there appeared to be "hundreds" of passengers queuing for a seat.

"We assume we will be on the flight as we have a confirmed e-ticket, but only once we have formally checked in will we know for sure."

In an update on X, Qatar Airways said it would being operating a "limited number" of relief flights from Thursday for passengers across the region.

Passengers were asked not to travel to the airport unless they receive a notification from the airline.

Foreign Office officials have also noted a rise in the availability of Emirates flights leaving the UAE and said British Airways would provide additional flights from Muscat.

British Airways said on Wednesday it would operate two flights from Oman to London Heathrow on Friday and Saturday, which would be available to those with an existing booking with the airline who were in Oman or the UAE.

It added: "We remain unable to operate flights from Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv."

It has since confirmed that both the flights have been fully booked.

BA was also operating a flight from Muscat early on Thursday.

Meanwhile, there were emotional scenes at Edinburgh Airport on Wednesday night as some 300 passengers landed on an Emirates flight from Dubai.

Andrew Crow and Jean Weir, from Glasgow, had checked out of the Fairmont The Palm hotel in Dubai just hours before it was caught in a large explosion on Saturday.

"The flight was a long one on the way back, I can assure you, but we are relieved to be home," Andrew said.

Victoria Cameron, from Larkhall, had been travelling home from New Zealand via Dubai when flights in the Middle East were grounded.

"The staff said 'run, run, leave your suitcases'," she told the BBC. "Our phones were going off, saying 'emergency alert'. We were crying, we were shaking."

The Gulf serves as a hub for several major airlines and is home to some of the world's busiest airports, serving passengers travelling to the region or transiting to further afield.

But airspace over the Middle East remains severely restricted, with flights completely or partially grounded over Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

Announcing the initial Oman repatriation flight, the UK Foreign Office said some British nationals, their spouse or partner, and children under 18 would be invited to board Wednesday's flight.

The Foreign Office said it would "continue to work with airlines to find more routes for people to return home", and has advised against all but essential travel to the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar.

The government said it is the largest consular challenge since the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, while another official compared the scale of disruption to the volcanic ash crisis of June 2010.

Elsewhere in the region British nationals in Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, the Palestinian territories, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have also registered their presence.

Meanwhile, the UK government continues to set out its wider response to the crisis in the Middle East, including deploying a warship to the area close to Cyprus.

The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon will be sent to the Mediterranean, possibly next week, to bolster defences around a British military base at Akrotiri after it was hit by an Iranian drone.

What is happening with airports and airlines in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha?

On Wednesday, Emirates suspended all flights to and from Dubai until just before midnight on 7 March.

Etihad Airways has said its scheduled commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi remain suspended until early on 6 March.

Airports in Cyprus have also been hit with disruption following a drone attack on the UK military base RAF Akrotiri on Sunday.

Easyjet, TUI, Lufthansa, Cyprus Airways and Wizz Air are among the airlines affected, with flights to and from Europe and the Middle East grounded.

Additional reporting by James Kelly, Rozina Sini, Alex Akhurst, Andree Massiah, Megan Bonar

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