Panicked Dubai residents are taking to the highways in search of a charter flight out of the region, as airports shut down and airlines are grounded in the wake of Iranian retaliation strikes.
Dubai residents are reportedly driving to nearby Oman and as far as Saudi Arabia in an attempt to find a way to escape the combat zone, according to a report by the Financial Times.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Dubai, Doha, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. The New York Times reports that at least four people were killed and more than 100 others injured in attacks on the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.
Dubai has long been considered a tourism jewel in the Middle East and is Iran’s largest trading partner in the region. The targets in the UAE included five-star hotels and the airport, as well as military bases. Four people were reported injured at the Dubai airport from drone attacks. Iran has claimed that military assets moved to civilian sites after their regional bases were attacked, justifying the strikes.
The subsequent airline shutdowns are stranding tens of thousands of people, and have even hampered connecting flights outside the Middle East. Main carriers Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad have postponed flights for at least one more day as of Monday. Estimates indicate that more than 4,000 flights have been canceled in the region, a total representing more than half of the travel to the Middle East scheduled for Monday, according to aviation data group Cirium.
The European Union is warning civil aircraft not to fly in the region.
EnterJet founder Charles Robinson, whose company connects private jet clients to available flights, is experiencing an avalanche of interest. He said Oman was the only outlet that offered some hope of snagging a charter flight, but mentioned that Syria’s Damascus airport was also seeing some activity.
“It’s a tricky question of actually finding vetted and certified aircraft to do the missions,” Robinson told the FT. “We have more demand than aircraft that are available to offer in the region at the moment.”
Luxe Jets, another private flight group, has one flight from Oman to Istanbul on Tuesday. Another flight is scheduled for Wednesday, and more are anticipated.
“Half of Dubai is booking,” said Alexander Grapham of Luxe Jet, speaking to the FT. He said priority for chartered flights is being given to groups, families and pets.
One executive of a large global hedge fund with a Dubai outpost told the FT that his firm was scrambling to get employees out.
“We have been exploring how to evacuate people but it’s not easy. It’s pretty scary — this is going to have implications for some of my guys . . . The trade was not that you were getting exposed to geopolitics when moving to Dubai. It was not a consideration. People have moved families. This element of concern is new.”