Millions of Middle East airline seats cancelled since start of war

• 56% of inbound flights cancelled
• Evacuation efforts gather pace
• Most Oman flights are departing

More than 4 million airline seats to and from the Middle East have been wiped from schedules since conflict erupted in the region on February 28.

Aviation analytics company Cirium says 56 percent of inbound flights – 10,303 services – have been cancelled since the airstrikes began. That equates to 2.2 million seats lost on arrivals, with a similar number lost on departures.

Across the Middle East, 47 percent of flights took off on Wednesday as evacuation efforts gathered pace.

The first UK government repatriation flight is set to leave Oman on Wednesday night.

The chartered British Airways aircraft will depart from Muscat International Airport, with seats allocated first to vulnerable citizens identified by the Foreign Office.

According to the BA website, more government-chartered Muscat to London flights will depart on March 6 and 7, for customers with existing bookings or those who are stuck in Oman or the UAE.

More than 130,000 Britons have registered their presence in the region since hostilities escalated between the US and Israel and Iran.

Oman had one of the highest operational flight numbers on Wednesday, according to Cirium, with 80 percent of flights departing.

To expedite repatriation efforts, Oman Air has offered bus transfers from Sharjah to Muscat on Wednesday for passengers seeking onward flights.

The airline has urged passengers “travelling via the land border to connect with flights from Muscat” to get to the border crossing at least 12 hours before their plane is due to depart “as traffic volumes remain high and processing times may be extended”.

Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs, Helen McEntee, has confirmed that an Emirates flight to Dublin will depart from Dubai on Wednesday night with more than 400 people on board.

Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, the UAE’s economy and tourism minister, said almost 17,500 passengers on 60 flights had been successfully transported via emergency corridors by mid-afternoon on Tuesday. Capacity is set to expand further as security assessments allow, he added.

Commercial flights remain suspended in much of the region, with airspace partially shut since Saturday.

Emirates Airline has announced that scheduled flights will remain grounded until 23:59 local time on March 7. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways has said its flights will be suspended until 14:00 local time on Thursday.

Qatar Airways’ services remain suspended and it will give a further update at 09:00 local time on Friday.

UAE-based low-cost carrier Air Arabia has suspended operations until March 9.