Over 8,000 passengers to be transported to Russia from UAE, Oman on Thurs - Transport Ministry

MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - Russian and foreign airlines are due to transport over 8,000 passengers to Russia from the United Arab Emirates and Oman on Thursday, the Russian Transport Ministry said in a statement.

Thirty-seven evacuation flights have been scheduled for that purpose. Passengers are being transported in the order their tickets were rebooked.

Sixty-four flights arrived from the UAE and Oman on March 2-4 with 12,200 passengers onboard. Besides Moscow, the flights arrived in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Mineralnye Vody, Makhachkala, Kazan and Krasnodar.

The flights are performed with due account of airspace restrictions. The airspace of six states, namely Bahrain, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Qatar and Kuwait, remains closed for now. Partial restrictions are in effect in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The preliminary schedule of evacuation flights has been approved through March 7, the ministry said. Flights from Israel have been cancelled until March 10 (passengers have either received refunds or been provided with flight vouchers valid after that date). The Federal Air Transport Agency has extended the recommendation that Russian airlines suspend sales of tickets to Middle East countries (from Russia to Bahrain, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Qatar and the UAE) until March 14. Russian airlines are not planning flights to Iran.