Starting immediately, more flights and land convoys will carry vulnerable Austrians out of the Gulf, increasing capacity for families and elderly people. 9: 14 a. m. ET — the move follows the Foreign Ministry’s maintenance of a Level-4 Middle-East travel warning and coordinated repatriation efforts with Austrian Airlines and other partners.
Austrian Airlines Flights and Bus Convoys Increase Evacuation Capacity
The government has planned two further special flights to lift evacuation numbers quickly: an Airbus A320neo configured for 165 passengers from Oman and a Boeing 777 offering 315 seats for evacuees from Saudi Arabia. The Foreign Ministry says the costs for the special flights will be settled with passengers in line with consular regulations, a step intended to speed boarding and departure schedules.
Travel Warning and Fifth Evacuation Flight from Oman Change Routes
Direct air traffic from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar has largely ceased because of airspace closures, forcing the Foreign Ministry to organize supported bus convoys that move registered Austrians overland to transit hubs. Those overland routes carry evacuees from the Emirates to Muscat in Oman and from Qatar to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia; the repatriation operation is already operating a fifth evacuation flight from Oman as part of that corridor. For people on the ground, the travel warning has translated into longer overland legs before a flight home.
Vienna Crisis Teams, 117 Vulnerable Austrians Evacuated; Wider Coordination Underway
Crisis teams from the Foreign and Defense Ministries at headquarters in Vienna and at embassies are working around the clock to verify registrations and manage logistics. So far, 117 particularly vulnerable Austrians, including families with children and elderly people, have been brought to safety these transit routes and from Israel Jordan. First returnees are already arriving in Vienna as authorities prepare to scale the operation if conditions demand it.
Still, officials are intensifying cooperation with other European countries to share available seats on allied evacuation flights and to use national carrier capacity for operational independence. The use of an Austrian Airlines Boeing 777 was highlighted by planners because the wide-body aircraft allows rapid repatriation of a significant number of people, and the Riyadh-to-Vienna–Schwechat corridor is currently viewed as one of the safer options to bypass unstable airspace over Iraq and Iran.
Meinl-Reisinger has said in an official statement that the situation of 2015 will not repeat due to the Iran war, framing the operation as focused and limited in scope. If security conditions force a longer evacuation effort, authorities are prepared to extend the air bridge beyond the weekend and deploy the planned additional flights and convoys to carry more returnees; if that extension occurs, more seats and convoy slots will be activated within days.
