Air France has temporarily suspended all flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh until at least Thursday, 5 March, due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The airline said that the safety of customers and crew remains its top priority and that it will continue to assess the situation before resuming operations.
France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, told the French outlet BFMTV that an estimated 400,000 French citizens are currently in the affected Middle Eastern countries. Of these, around 25,000 are “in transit”. He added that France is preparing repatriation flights. “We are preparing to charter flights so that the most vulnerable people can benefit from them,” he said.
KLM also announced on Saturday that it will temporarily avoid the airspace of Iran, Iraq, Israel and several countries around the Persian Gulf. The Dutch airline will not operate flights to Dubai or to the Saudi cities of Riyadh and Dammam until at least Thursday. The decision follows recent attacks on Iran and the country’s retaliatory actions in recent days.
@anp | NEWS BRAINPORT
