UK government's first repatriation flight from Middle East grounded over technical issues

The first government-arranged repatriation flight had been scheduled to depart from Oman's capital Muscat late on Wednesday (4 March). But, according to the Foreign Office, the plane was grounded overnight because of technical issues.

Passengers were given free hotel accommodation and the flight is expected to leave later today (Thursday 5 March). Muscat, which is some 300 miles by road from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has emerged as a key location for people to leave the Middle East as the vast majority of commercial flights from the United Arab Emirates are cancelled due to airspace restrictions caused by the conflict.

British Airways is among the carriers to have been operating commercial flights back to the UK, including from Muscat. One took off on Wednesday night and is due to land at Heathrow this morning, shortly after 8am.

Two more British Airways flights will take passengers from Muscat to London Heathrow on Friday and Saturday. The airline said the flights would be available to those with an existing booking with the airline who were in Oman or the UAE. 

It has since confirmed that both the flights have been fully booked. Foreign Office officials said 138,000 British nationals in the Gulf had registered their presence, of whom 112,000 were in the UAE.

Emirates is operating a limited number of repatriation services despite it announcing that all scheduled flights are cancelled until at least 11.59pm GST on Saturday March 7. There were emotional scenes at Birmingham airport on Wednesday when the first flight from Dubai landed just after 12pm.

The first departure flight to Dubai from Birmingham since the conflict in the Middle East began also departed at 13:40pm. The same two flights are scheduled to operate at the West Midlands hub today.

Dubai Airport is open but only for those passengers who have received a confirmed departure time directly from their airline. The airport says that if you have received a confirmed departure flight from your airline, you should also check which Terminal your flight is departing from. 

It adds: "Limited airport operations have resumed with a small number of flights operating from DXB and DWC. Schedules remain subject to change."