Repatriation Flights Ramp Up in Mideast03/05 06:19

   

   (AP) -- Explosions in the sky woke Cory McKane on Saturday, turning a quick 
visit to Dubai before a friend's wedding in India into a tense, multi-day 
search for a way out of the United Arab Emirates as the Iran war expanded.

   With few options, McKane and his friends eventually drove a rental car to 
the Oman border, where taxi drivers were charging up to $650 to take people to 
Muscat International Airport. The journey to Muscat took 10 hours but paid off: 
McKane secured a last-minute flight to India, arriving Wednesday exhausted but 
relieved.

   Hundreds of thousands of travelers found themselves similarly stranded in 
the Middle East after Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Saturday 
and Iran struck back on Gulf states and Israel. With much of the region's 
airspace closed and airstrikes intensifying, governments from North America and 
Africa to Europe and Southeast Asia continued their race Wednesday to bring 
their citizens home.

   Officials chartered jets or deployed military aircraft, routing stranded 
travelers through Oman, Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- key exit points where planes 
could land and take off.

   A plane carrying French citizens from Oman and then Egypt landed in Paris 
early Wednesday, the first of several expected repatriation flights organized 
by France. A group of students returned to Italy after their government 
evacuated them from Dubai. More than 200 people from 16 countries departed Iran 
by land through neighboring Turkmenistan despite the former Soviet country's 
strict visa policies.

   Even as repatriation efforts gained momentum, many travelers faced the 
choice of waiting or trying to secure seats on the diminished number of 
commercial flights operating.

   More than 23,000 of the roughly 44,000 flights scheduled to fly to or from 
the Middle East between the start of the war and Thursday have been canceled, 
according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Flight-tracking service 
FlightAware reported more than 2,400 flight cancellations worldwide on 
Wednesday, down from about 3,150 on Monday.

   Recovery flights underway

   France estimates about 400,000 of its citizens are in parts of the Mideast 
affected by the conflict, either as residents or travelers.

   Eleonore Caroit, the minister responsible for French nationals abroad, said 
about 100 seats on the country's first evacuation flight were reserved for 
vulnerable passengers, including families with children, older people and those 
with medical conditions. Two more flights were expected Wednesday -- a military 
aircraft carrying 180 French citizens from the UAE city of Abu Dhabi and a 
charter bringing 205 people from Israel.

   The U.S. State Department says 18,000 Americans have returned safely, 
including 8,500 on Tuesday. President Donald Trump's top spokeswoman, 
meanwhile, pushed back Wednesday against criticism that the administration had 
not done enough to help Americans leave.

   Karolyn Leavitt, the press secretary, insisted that "there have been plans 
in place."

   "We will help every single American who wants to come home if they're making 
that request of the State Department," she said, adding that a department 
hotline message advising callers not to rely on U.S. government assistance had 
been corrected.

   Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said nearly 280 citizens had been 
evacuated.

   Around 15,000 people have left Israel through land crossings into Jordan and 
Egypt. Israel's Ministry of Tourism is running buses to the southern border 
with Egypt transport tourists.

   Britain said a charter flight would depart Oman late Wednesday to bring back 
some of the thousands of U.K. nationals in the Gulf. The U.K. Foreign Office 
said more than 130,000 British nationals in the Middle East had registered 
their presence with the government since Saturday, though officials said not 
all are trying to leave.

   Ireland's foreign minister said Emirates airline would operate a flight from 
Dubai to Dublin on Wednesday. A charter flight is also planned to evacuate 280 
people from Oman in the coming days. Officials said an estimated 22,000 to 
23,000 Irish citizens were in the Middle East.

   Norway said it was sending an "emergency team" to Dubai to reinforce a 
embassy staff assisting about 1,500 Norwegians registered in the city.

   On Indonesia's resort island of Bali, about 6,000 people were stranded after 
their flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, Qatar, were canceled. Many were 
tourists from Europe or the U.S. trying to connect through those Middle Eastern 
airports.

   South Africa's Foreign Ministry urged citizens to take advantage of the 
limited commercial flights after putting its own evacuation plans on hold due 
to the airspace closures.

   Scrambling for plane tickets

   Airspace closures and restrictions remained in place Wednesday across most 
of the Middle East, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24. Notices 
from Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Syria said the countries' no-fly 
zones would last until at least early next week.

   The United Arab Emirates' airspace is partially closed, and Saudi Arabia 
continues to partially restrict routes near its border with Iraq and along the 
Persian Gulf. Israel prepared for a phased reopening that would allow incoming 
carrying returning citizens starting early Thursday. Jordan lifted its previous 
nighttime flight ban, restoring 24-hour operations.

   Some of the aviation notices governing the closures allow authorities to 
reopen or restrict portions of airspace on short notice depending on security 
conditions, meaning flight schedules can quickly change as the conflict 
continues to unfold.

   Commercial airlines have resumed limited service, but seats filled quickly. 
British Airways said its flights scheduled to depart Muscat through Saturday 
were fully booked and that it would add service "if we are able to." Etihad 
Airways and Emirates, based in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, said their commercial 
flights were still suspended due to regional airspace closures, although both 
airlines operated a small number of repatriation and cargo flights.

   Fabio Falasca, a 28-year-old entrepreneur from Rome, was stranded in Dubai 
with a friend when the conflict erupted over the weekend. He spent Saturday 
night sleeping in an underground parking lot.

   While in constant contact with the Italian Foreign Ministry's traveler 
platform, Falasca learned he could take a bus to Oman and then fly home to 
Italy. Although he had already bought a direct ticket from Dubai to Rome, 
another sleepless night between Monday and Tuesday convinced him to accept the 
ministry's offer.

   He left Dubai by bus on Tuesday, heading to Oman where he could catch a 
flight back to Italy.

   "I can't wait to get home and not be afraid of what's outside," Falasca 
said. "My only thought is to get home."