Omani airlines offer bus service to fly passengers stuck in UAE

Two Omani airlines are offering bus transfer services from the UAE to Muscat for travellers stranded in the Emirates.

State-backed Oman Air and budget carrier Salam Air will provide ground transport from Sharjah to Muscat International Airport until March 5, the airlines said in a post on X.

Buses will depart Sharjah at 7am and 1pm local time, arriving in Muscat by 3pm and 9pm, respectively.

The service is available only for valid bookings, the airlines said, with passengers required to obtain an Omani visa in advance. 

No details were given on flight routes operational from Muscat.

UAE economy and tourism minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri said on Tuesday that emergency corridors were handling up to 48 flights an hour, transporting almost 17,500 passengers across 60 flights so far, with capacity set to expand further as security assessments allow. 

Authorities are preparing to scale operations to more than 80 scheduled flights a day in the next phase, ready to move more than 27,000 passengers.

Airspace over the UAE and much of the wider region has been largely shut since Saturday, when Iran launched retaliatory strikes across the GCC following coordinated attacks by the US and Israel that killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

AGBI reported on Tuesday that Oman Air had cancelled all flights to and from Amman, Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam, Kuwait, Copenhagen, Baghdad and Khasab until Friday. About 20 flights left the sultanate to other destinations during the day.

UK foreign minister Yvette Cooper said on Tuesday that Britain was working with airlines on increasing capacity out of Muscat to prioritise the evacuation of vulnerable British nationals, according to Reuters.

Cooper, addressing lawmakers in parliament, said she was in close contact with her counterparts in the Gulf, where 130,000 British nationals have registered their presence.

“A government charter fight will fly from Muscat in the coming days, prioritising vulnerable nationals, but British nationals in Oman must wait to be contacted by the Foreign Office regarding these options,” Cooper said.

News on the Iran conflict:

• Forty-eight hours that shook the Gulf
• UAE spent $1bn a day downing missiles and drones, analysts say
• Middle East airspace closure cancels 13,000 flights