Maltese evacuated from Dubai hours before its airspace closed again

Updated 1pm with Emirates statement

Almost 200 Maltese citizens caught in the United Arab Emirates following the outbreak of war in neighbouring Iran have been flown home.

An Airbus A330-300 plane carrying 187 Maltese people from Dubai touched ground at Malta International Airport at 4.58am on Saturday morning, safely returning the citizens to their families.

Hours later, Dubai announced its airspace was closed once again, after an aerial interception in the area during attacks from Iran. Flights were "partially resumed" later on Saturday morning.

The evacuation flight to Malta was chartered and paid for by the government.

It departed Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport, also known as Dubai World Central, at 1am, five hours later than originally scheduled.

Global flight trackers indicate the plane flew west through Saudi Arabia and Egypt before reaching the Mediterranean and then towards Malta.

The flight path. Image: Flight Aware

The plane was flown to Dubai from Malta specifically to operate the repatriation flight, leaving MIA earlier on Friday before returning with a cabin full of passengers. 

Thousands of flights cancelled

More than 20,000 flights have been cancelled since last Saturday, when the US and Israel began bombing Iran in what they described as “preemptive” strikes. Iran responded by firing missiles at Israel and all other neighbouring countries hosting US military bases and assets, including the United Arab Emirates.

Countries immediately shut down their airspaces and tens of thousands of foreign citizens, including tourists, ended up stranded.

As airlines resumed limited flights out of hubs including Dubai and Riyadh, governments also chartered planes to bring home citizens affected by the turmoil, which stranded tens of thousands of travellers worldwide.

There are more than 1,650 Maltese nationals known to be living in the Middle East. Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg said earlier this week that around 215 of them had sought consular assistance since the outbreak of war. Of those, 169 were in the United Arab Emirates.

Borg posted on Facebook at 6.13am on Saturday to say the evacuation flight had landed safely in Malta.

“I’m very happy everything went well,” he wrote.

Dubai closes, then reopens airspace

The Maltese evacuees got out just in time: roughly one hour after they touched ground in Malta, Dubai closed all its airspace once again. 

The government's Dubai Media Office said all operations at Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai Central (DWC) airports were temporarily suspended to ensure safety.

The announcement came shortly after the aerial interception of an object near DXB, with a witness telling AFP of a loud explosion followed by a cloud of smoke.

Dubai authorities later said flight operations had "partially resumed" at both DXB and DWC airports.

"Please do not travel to the airport unless you have been contacted by your airline that your flight is confirmed, as schedules continue to change," it told passengers.

An Emirates spokesperson told Times of Malta the airline intended to operate its usual flight on Sunday, March 8. 

"The airline is progressively restoring its network and expects to return to 100% of operations within the coming days, subject to airspace availability and operational requirements," the spokesperson said.

Passengers should check the latest flight schedule and available seats for upcoming flights online. 

Earlier, the Flightradar24 tracking website earlier showed planes circling above the airport in an apparent holding pattern.

The Dubai government said in a post that there had been "a minor incident resulting from the fall of debris after an interception", which caused no injuries.

"The air defences of the United Arab Emirates are currently responding to missile and drone threats coming from Iran," the Emirati Ministry of Defence said, without specifying the targets of the attacks.

Last Saturday, four employees were injured and a terminal was damaged at Dubai airport as war broke out in the Middle East following US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Operator Dubai Airports said at the time that the incident had been "quickly brought under control", without providing details.

Iranian attacks have also hit Abu Dhabi airport, the upmarket Palm Jumeirah development and the Burj Al Arab luxury hotel, while drone debris caused a fire at the US consulate in Dubai on Tuesday.

Cirium, a company specialising in aviation sector data, said 87 flights took off Thursday from Dubai's international airport, the world's second-largest airport by passengers, and 15 from Abu Dhabi.

Another 60 flights left Oman's capital Muscat.

However, no flights left the airports in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

Cirium said that the 43.1 per cent of flights across the region were cancelled on Thursday. That is down from 61 per cent on Wednesday, and more than 65 per cent between Sunday and Tuesday.