Eight planes carrying approximately 1,000 people stranded in the Middle East due to the war have landed in Prague so far. Five of the flights were provided by the Smartwings airline and three by the Czech Army.
Two more Smartwings planes from Oman were due to land at Prague airport yesterday evening, and one from Dubai after midnight. The airline’s planes are mainly transporting tourists who were in the region with travel agencies.
A large military Airbus with a capacity of over 90 passengers, which flew to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt yesterday morning, also landed at Prague airport around 7:45pm yesterday, according to information on flight applications.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Adam Corgo told CTK that 91 passengers were on board the aircraft. He said that the Airbus would be heading straight to Muscat, Oman after its return to Prague.
A smaller Airbus and a Casa aircraft used for repatriation flights are currently staying in Prague.
On Tuesday night, the first two Smartwings planes brought around 200 passengers from Oman, and the first military repatriation flight landed in Prague, bringing around 40 people from Jordan. Three Czechs were also transported on evacuation planes from Jordan to Bratislava.
Yesterday morning, there was one Smartwings flight from Dubai and two from Muscat, Oman, while a larger military Airbus brought 96 people from Muscat to Prague yesterday morning, and a Casa aircraft landed shortly afterwards carrying 39 passengers from Egypt.
“Two more planes from Oman will land in Prague during the evening. Flights from Oman are returning travel agency clients,” said Smartwings spokeswoman Vladimira Dufkova yesterday afternoon.
Smartwings plans to send another plane to Dubai today. “Further flights from Prague to Dubai for the following days are under discussion,” said Dufkova.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also organising a paid flight from Jordan, which can hold 189 passengers. This plane took off from Prague airport shortly before midday yesterday, but turned around over Serbia and flew back, because the group of passengers who were supposed to board it got stuck at the Israeli-Jordanian border, according to Smartwings and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Adam Corgo told CTK that the aircraft will now take off from Prague at 1pm today.
Tickets for this flight cost CZK 15,000, though Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) told Czech Radio yesterday that passengers would not pay this amount, as up to 75% of the cost of repatriation flights could be covered by the European Union, on condition that places on the flight are also offered to citizens of other EU member states.
According to Czech Radio, several other countries, including Slovakia, France, and Italy, have also asked the European Commission to finance repatriation flights.
European Commission spokeswoman Eva Hrnčířová confirmed that 10 countries have activated the solidarity mechanism, including the Czech Republic. She added that several flights are planned for the coming days, but would not disclose any further details for the safety of passengers.
According to information from the Drozd online voluntary registration system, there were around 5,800 Czechs in the afflicted region as of yesterday. The situation seems to be the most pressing in the United Arab Emirates, where there are 3,500 Czech citizens in Dubai alone. Macinka told the Senate yesterday that a special telephone hotline has handled 3,000 calls since Saturday.
The government is also aware of some thousands of Czechs stranded in various places around Asia and in Australia, said Jiri Slajs, a section chief from the Foreign Ministry. The ministry does not currently plan to repatriate them, but is monitoring the situation, he added.
Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on Saturday. US President Donald Trump claimed they did so in an effort to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks against Israel and US military bases in the region. The conflict has paralysed air traffic in the area, including the airports in Dubai and Doha, which are key transit hubs for flights to Asia.
