After Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes across parts of the region following attacks by the US and Israel, several countries including Israel, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait shut their airspace, forcing airlines to delay, cancel or reroute flights.
Passengers are exhausted after many hours of waiting on the plane (Photo: Provided by interviewee).
At 6.30 am on March 1 (2.30 am Oman time), Trinh Van Duc, a Hanoi resident, finally checked into the InterContinental Muscat in Muscat after an overnight ordeal.
Duc had departed Hanoi on February 28 on a flight operated by Qatar Airways, transiting in Doha en route to Spain for a business trip. All procedures had proceeded normally before departure.
As the aircraft approached Qatari airspace, the crew announced it would turn back and land in Muscat instead.
“At that moment, hundreds of passengers were confused and anxious. The captain only said Doha Airport had an issue and we had to land in Muscat,” Duc recalled.
The screen showing the plane turning back to land in Oman (Photo: Provided by interviewee).
After landing, some passengers accessed the internet and learned that tensions in the Middle East had sharply escalated. News quickly spread throughout the cabin, prompting many to contact families in Vietnam to reassure them.
The flight carried numerous Vietnamese families, workers and students returning to Europe after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Passengers remained seated on the plane for six hours before being allowed to disembark. Many, including young children, were visibly exhausted. Some children developed fevers and required urgent assistance from the crew.
Passengers waiting before heading to the hotel (Photo: Provided by interviewee).
Duc said it then took another five hours to complete immigration procedures, partly because many travellers did not hold visas for Oman.
At around 5.30 am on March 1, after clearing entry formalities, passengers were transported by the airline to hotels in Muscat. Accommodation and meals were covered by Qatar Airways.
According to Duc’s schedule, he was due to attend events in Spain from March 1 to 7. He now expects to arrive about two days late.
Queues of people waiting to clear immigration in Oman (Photo: Provided by interviewee).
The British newspaper The Guardian reported that hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded or diverted after multiple Middle Eastern countries closed their airspace.
On February 28, both Dubai International Airport and Hamad International Airport announced indefinite closures following missile attacks, disrupting a key global transit corridor linking Europe, Asia and Africa.
Data from flight tracking service FlightRadar24 showed that within the first 24 hours of the restrictions, more than 280 flights were cancelled and at least 250 others suffered lengthy delays, with hundreds of aircraft forced to turn back mid-air in what aviation experts described as an unprecedented “reverse migration” in modern aviation history.