Muscat has emerged as a key location for people to leave the Middle East, according to reports. The UK Foreign Office does not advise against travel to the area where Muscat's airport is located, unlike the current advice for airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. Muscat can be reached by road from both Dubai and Abu Dhabi with journeys of about 300 miles.
British Airways will operate two flights from Muscat, Oman to London Heathrow on Friday and Saturday, the airline said. All three British Airways flights are fully booked, according to the airline. British Airways remains unable to operate its scheduled flights from Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv, the airline confirmed.
Two further Government-chartered flights will take off from Oman in the coming days, according to Sir Keir Starmer. The first of those extra evacuation flights is expected to leave Oman on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer said. The first Government rescue flight and British Airways commercial flight from Muscat depart on Wednesday night, according to officials.
Some commercial flights are operating from Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE but the vast majority are cancelled because of airspace restrictions caused by the conflict between Iran and the US and its allies, according to aviation data. According to Cirium, 23 out of 33 planned flights from the UAE to the UK on Wednesday were cancelled. All 17 flights from Qatar to the UK were cancelled, all three flights from Bahrain to the UK were cancelled, and both flights from Kuwait to the UK were cancelled, Cirium reported.
More than 1,000 British nationals arrived back in the UK on commercial flights from the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer said. Eight more UK flights are scheduled to leave the UAE on Wednesday, according to Sir Keir Starmer. There is not expected to be a widespread evacuation of the 138,000 British nationals who have registered their presence in the Middle East, officials noted.