Flights

Chaos in the skies, flight from the Gulf through Oman and Arabia

Tourists look for any means to leave and reach Muscat or Riyadh by taxi and bus. Private jet flights boom at stellar prices

by Mara Monti

5 March 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Since the start of the conflict 25,000 flights cancelled
Airspace in the Caucasus also at risk
Open Air Spaces in Oman and Saudi Arabia
European Commission in action for returns

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The chaos in the skies does not subside with airspace over the Gulf still closed except for repatriation flights. A few airlines are trying to give signs of a return to normality as in the case of Emitates, the Dubai-based company, and Ethiad of Abu Dhabi: both are operating a limited number of flights through safe air corridors, 87 from Dubai when normally a thousand a day depart, including destinations in Sydney, Paris, Amsterdam, Toronto and Mumbai and 15 from Abu Dhabi.

Since the start of the conflict 25 thousand flights have been cancelled

No flights are scheduled from Bahrain and Doha in Qatar. The Gulf airline itself, Qatar Airways, said it would operate limited rescue flights for stranded passengers from Muscat in Oman to six European destinations, including London, Berlin and Rome, as well as from Riyadh to Frankfurt. Flights cancelled since the start of the conflict on 28 February have risen to 25,000, according to aviation analysis agency Cirium, and it is unclear when the situation will unblock.

Airspace in the Caucasus is also at risk

Making flight management even more difficult is the news of the attack on Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan International Airport by an Iranian drone near a school. For international aviation this could be particularly worrying. With airspace closed over much of the Middle East and Russia for many airlines, Azerbaijan has become a key air corridor connecting Europe and Asia.

Lo spazio aereo del Caucaso

The Caucasus corridor is now the only safe passage between Russia/Ukraine and Iran/Gulf. This is not the first time that Azerbaijan has seen war spread from neighbouring conflicts. At the end of 2024, Russian air defence shot down an Azerbaijan Airlines plane on its way to Chechnya. Vladimir Putin formally apologised to Azerbaijan in 2025.

Air spaces opened in Oman and Saudi Arabia

Leaving the Gulf at the moment is not easy and repatriation flights are not for everyone. Some rely on private jets, as in the case of the Swiss operator LunaJet, which received 800 requests for evacuation from individuals and governments in a few hours, managing to organise only two flights from Muscat, Oman to Istanbul and Athens, each with 200 passengers, at a cost of more than two thousand dollars per ticket.

Panicked people are trying to leave the Gulf area as soon as possible. Stranded tourists and expats trying to return home have as their only solution to leave the Middle East to reach Saudi Arabia or Oman, where the airspace remains open. Some try to reach Muscat on makeshift means such as taxis and buses. Many pay hundreds of dollars and drive for hours and then often thousands more to get on a flight, even more if it is a private jet.

Saudi Arabia has also seen an increase in travellers from neighbouring Kuwait and Qatar along with airlines: Kuwaiti low-cost Jazeera Airways will start operating from Jeddah airport, while Bahrain's national airline will fly from Dammam, a few hours' drive from the airline's hub. Qatar Airways will also operate limited flights from Riyadh as its airspace is closed.

The European Commission in action for repatriations

Meanwhile, governments are also organising evacuation flights from Muscat. The European Commission has stated that it is coordinating repatriation flights within the framework of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, as more and more member states are requesting help to repatriate their citizens from the Middle East.

Six flights have already returned EU citizens to Bulgaria, Italia, Austria and Slovakia, and more are planned. So far ten EU countries have activated the mechanism, including Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Romania.

Italy's Foreign Ministry said some 2,500 Italians have returned from Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Muscat on commercial flights organised by the ministry. It has expanded consular staff in Oman and the United Arab Emirates and is coordinating repatriations to several countries, with large groups moving from the UAE and others transiting overland through Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, while other Italians in Oman, Israel, the Maldives and Thailand are receiving assistance or are prioritised for upcoming transports.