RIGA, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Two flights operated by Latvia's national carrier airBaltic departed from Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai on Friday afternoon, carrying several hundred Latvian nationals, according to data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
According to airBaltic, which is carrying out the repatriation in cooperation with the Latvian government, each flight has 145 seats and both flights were fully booked. A third flight from Dubai is scheduled to depart on Saturday.
The Latvian Foreign Ministry said more than 800 Latvian nationals are currently stranded in various Middle Eastern countries in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, and the repatriation effort will be carried out in phases.
The ministry is also working with other European Union countries to help bring home Latvians currently in Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
At present, large parts of Middle Eastern airspace remain closed or heavily restricted. Only limited flight corridors remain operationally open, including over Oman and parts of Saudi Arabia. While departures from airports in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are restricted, flight schedules remain unstable.
AirBaltic has extended the cancellation of its regular passenger flights to and from Dubai until mid-March and to and from Tel Aviv until the end of March due to the security situation in the Middle East and regional airspace restrictions.
All airBaltic flights to and from Dubai have been cancelled until March 16 inclusive, as well as the Dubai-Riga flight scheduled for March 17. Flights to and from Tel Aviv have been cancelled until March 28. ■