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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.
