The Czech Republic has ended repatriation flights from the Middle East for citizens whose return home was complicated by the Iran war, with yesterday’s 12th flight being the last, the Foreign Ministry announced on social media yesterday evening. The ministry said over 1,500 citizens have been returned from the conflict-affected area in total.
The Czech government launched repatriation flights using military aircraft and Smartwings planes after Israel and the US launched a military attack on Iran at the end of February.
Yesterday’s Smartwings repatriation flight from Riyadh had 102 people on board, the company said during the afternoon. “At this moment, the ministry’s crisis hotline has no record of any Czech citizens in the area who are in an urgent situation. Therefore, this is the last government-organised repatriation flight during this crisis,” the ministry said.
Nevertheless, Czech diplomatic missions in the region are prepared to help place Czech citizens on repatriation flights to other European Union countries in case of urgent need, the ministry said.
The ministry thanked Smartwings and the army for their efforts, as well as diplomats, consular staff, and ministry officials. However, especially in the beginning, some passengers criticised the government for not providing enough help and information. Complaints were also directed at the ministry’s Drozd travel information system.
The government’s repatriation process faced some criticism from the opposition and some experts. After the first attacks on Iran, there were conflicting statements from government representatives as to whether the government would launch repatriation flights. There was also uncertainty over whether people would have to pay for their journey home.
Smartwings said the plane that took off from Riyadh yesterday afternoon would land in Prague around 10:30 p.m.
According to the Drozd voluntary registration travel system, as of yesterday morning, 1,897 Czechs remained in countries affected by the war, 196 fewer than on Wednesday. More than half of them were in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Roughly 200 registered citizens were in Qatar and Oman, and more than 100 were in Saudi Arabia and Israel. At the beginning of March, shortly after the start of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, there were about 6,700 Czech citizens in the region. Not all registered citizens want to return home.
The previous repatriation flight to Prague arrived early Tuesday morning from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The army Airbus brought home, among others, travellers who had come to Egypt by land from Israel and Jordan. Thousands of people have been transported to the Czech Republic in recent days by commercial airlines, in particular Smartwings and Emirates.
Smartwings announced yesterday that in recent days it had also provided flights from Sri Lanka and the Maldives, among others.
“Since 2 March, we have transported over 5,000 people to the Czech Republic from destinations including Oman, the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. We have transported another 1,539 people to Slovakia,” the carrier wrote.
Israel and the United States launched air-strikes on Iran on the last day of February, and Tehran responded with missiles and drones against Israel and US bases in the region. The conflict has crippled air traffic in the area, including airports in Dubai and Doha, which are key transit hubs to Asian countries and Australia.
Due to the ongoing conflict with Iran and the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East, the Foreign Ministry is strongly warning Czech citizens against further travel to the region.
