More Australians flee Middle East despite airport scare
More Australians are returning from the Middle East despite brief airspace closures due to renewed missile attacks in the region.
A flight carrying 151 Australians from Dubai to Melbourne is expected to arrive on Sunday afternoon, while another flight is expected to land in Sydney later in the evening.
Two more flights are expected to depart Dubai until the United Arab Emirates’ airspace remains open.
The departures followed the brief closure of Dubai’s international airport on Saturday night Australian time following Iran’s latest missile and drone attacks in the region.
More than 1,500 Australians have returned home on flights from the UAE since the resumption of international services.
Australians were also taken by bus from Qatar’s capital, Doha, which is the base of Virgin Australia’s partner Qatar Airways, to Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh.
Three buses carrying 92 Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families set out.
Deputy Foreign Minister Matt Thistlethwaite said commercial flights were still the best way for Australians to leave the Middle East.
But he acknowledged that the cost of some flights could be a factor in people not being able to return, as some planes depart with many empty seats.
“We’ve seen some of these flights not being filled. We’ve seen the cost of the tickets,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
“We were quite disappointed, to be honest, and we expressed that disappointment to the airlines.”
“The first thing is to keep your reservation during your flight. If you already have a reservation, they can’t increase the prices.”
About 115,000 Australians were in the Middle East when the US and Israel attacked Iran, killing religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran returned fire across the region in retaliation.
Australian Travel Industry Association chief executive Dean Long said flights departing with empty seats should not cause concern.
“The good news is that we don’t have a huge number of people stuck in the transit center that we need to count,” he told AAP.
“People who lived primarily in the Middle East are now choosing to be in the Middle East because that’s where they live.”
Meanwhile, federal government ministers have downplayed the presence of three Australian defense personnel aboard the US nuclear submarine that crashed into an Iranian ship near Sri Lanka.
Mr Thistlethwaite said this was a normal rotation for defense teams as part of the AUKUS security agreement but did not say how senior the staff were.
Claire Chandler, a leading opposition figure, said the coalition supported the role played by Australian defense teams.
“It is fair to expect our Australian Navy personnel to work alongside their US counterparts, particularly in the AUKUS context,” he said.
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