PARIS (AP) — The first flight repatriating French citizens stranded in the Middle East because of the war in Iran landed in Paris early Wednesday.
French authorities booked about 100 seats onboard for vulnerable people on a priority list, the minister responsible for French Nationals Abroad, Eleonore Caroit, said. The plane departed from Muscat, Oman and made a stop in Cairo, Egypt, before touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, as travel
across the region remains heavily disrupted by the widening conflict.
A second flight carrying French citizens, who were based in Israel and managed to cross the border with Egypt, should arrive in France later Wednesday, Caroit said.
“We are focusing on a priority group — families with children, people affected by illness, old people,” she told TF1 broadcaster. “Our goal is to help repatriate as quickly as possible the French people who wish to return.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said an estimated 400,000 French people are present in the region affected by the conflict, either as residents or temporarily passing through.
With airspace closed or heavily restricted across much of the Gulf, passengers have been stranded not only in the region but also in cities far from the fighting after their connecting flights were canceled. Amid the travel chaos and with commercial flights limited, governments across the globe have been mounting emergency operations to try to repatriate their citizens.
The United States told American citizens to leave more than a dozen countries in the region right away using any available commercial transportation. The countries include Iran and Israel, as well as Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
In Europe, the British government said a chartered flight will take off from Oman late Wednesday to bring back some of the thousands of U.K. nationals in the Gulf. It said the most vulnerable will be prioritized for the first of what is expected to be a series of flights.
The Foreign Office said more than 130,000 British nationals in the Middle East have registered their presence with the government since the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict broke out, though not all are trying to leave. Many of those are in the UAE, and the government has advised against trying to travel overland to Oman.
Commercial airlines are also starting to resume some flights, with Etihad, Emirates and Virgin Atlantic all due to operate flights from the UAE to London on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, Norway’s Foreign Ministry said it’s sending an “emergency team” to Dubai to reinforce the Norwegian embassy’s team helping an estimated 1,500 Norwegians registered in the city.
