A flight chartered by the UK government is set to bring back some Britons stranded in the Middle East, with more planned in the coming days.
The UK Foreign Office said a second government flight will depart from the capital, Muscat, on Thursday, and a third later in the week.
Since the war broke out between Iran and the US and Israel on Saturday, more than 130,000 Britons have registered their interest with the UK government in being helped to leave the region.
The first flight was scheduled to depart from Oman at about 23:00 local time (19:00 GMT) and comes after Iranian missile and drone attacks in the Gulf grounded flights. It is not yet clear if it has left.
Those eligible for the government flights will be asked to pay for their seat.
Sir Keir Starmer told MPs there would be eight commercial flights leaving the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday.
Foreign Office officials said 138,000 British nationals in the Gulf have registered their presence, of whom 112,000 are in the UAE.
Poppy Cleary is one of those stranded in Muscat after he 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.
“Clearly I didn’t get on the flight, but it is frustrating that they couldn’t let me know that I hadn’t made the cut.”
Poppy Cleary is trying to get back to the UK after her flight was diverted to Muscat [BBC]
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.
Earlier, British Airways said it would operate two flights from Oman to London Heathrow on Friday and Saturday, which will be available to those with an existing booking with the airline who are in Oman or the UAE.
It said: “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 is also operating a flight from Muscat on Thursday at 02:30 local time (22:30 GMT on Wednesday).
A mother and son wait for a family member at Edinburgh Airport, where a commercial flight landed from Dubai on Wednesday evening [BBC]
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.
A number of people in the region have complained to the BBC that there has been a lack of information about available routes to travel home.
Muscat is a 280-mile drive from the UAE’s biggest city Dubai, where many of the British tourists and expats are currently based.
Catherine Davis, 66, from Saddleworth in Greater Manchester is on holiday in Oman and said she and her sister had not yet been offered a place on a repatriation flight.
She told the BBC: “I’m stuck in Oman, terrified. We are alone and know nobody here.
“I’m packed and ready and 15 minutes from Muscat airport, but I doubt we will get a place on the repatriation flight now. I’m totally terrified and trapped.”
Erasha Amarasinghe, a 39-year-old doctor from Northampton, told BBC Your Voice that she had been selected for a space on the chartered flight on Wednesday evening but has declined as her parents – who have indefinite leave to remain in the UK, but are Sri Lankan passport holders – are not eligible.
“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 were also travelling from Sri Lanka to Heathrow via Doha when their flight was diverted on Saturday.
Shah told the BBC he first learnt of Wednesday’s chartered flight through the media.
“We understand priority is being given to the vulnerable and families with young children etc […] when we registered for the flight we seemed to be number 666 and 667 in the list, so demand clearly outstrips capacity.”
Philip Johnston, from Essex, told BBC Your Voice he had been stuck in Dubai since Saturday en route home from Mumbai and had been advised he was not eligible for the first repatriation flight as he is not in Oman already.
He said: “I’m sitting in a nice hotel so I can’t complain but I am just getting frustrated now.”
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?
Emirates had suspended all flights to and from Dubai until just before midnight on 7 March.
It has advised passengers in the region not to go to the airport unless contacted by the airline.
While most flights from Dubai have been grounded since Saturday, a limited number were scheduled to depart on Wednesday, including to London, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, Lisbon and Munich.
Etihad Airways has said its scheduled commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi remain suspended until early on 6 March.
Qatar Airways, based in Doha, has said flights will be halted until the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe reopening of airspace.
Its passengers will need to wait until Friday at 09:00 local time (06:00 GMT) for an update, and has options for refunds and rebooking.
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
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