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‘Tensed but overall stable’, say Indians who safely returned from the Middle East
There were emotional scenes at many Indian airports on Wednesday as passengers reunited with their families after the uncertainties over the past few days
- PUBLISHED: Wed 4 Mar 2026, 4:08 PM
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Hundreds of Indians, including celebrities and ordinary travelers, are returning from the Gulf region as airlines, including Air India, Air India Express and IndiGo began operating flights, bringing them home.
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There were emotional scenes at many Indian airports on Wednesday as passengers reunited with their families after the uncertainties of the past few days. “The situation is tense, but overall, it is stable,” Praveen Kakkar, who arrived in Indore from Dubai, told reporters. “The government there (UAE) is doing good work.”
Sunil Gupta, who landed in Delhi from Dubai, told the media that he had never faced such a situation before. “Watching everything that was happening around the world made me anxious,” he said. “All I wanted was to somehow return home and be with my family.”
Vishal Patel, who along with other leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned from Dubai, told reporters that whenever they heard the loud boom of missiles being intercepted, it got scary. “But the UAE government was alert. Everyone who was stranded there was taken care of.” Sanjay Shukla, also from the party, said Dubai authorities were constantly alerting the passengers on their phones.
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Malayalam and Tamil actress Swasika landed in Kochi early Wednesday after being stranded in Dubai for four days. "There was no heavy panic situation," the actress told reporters, noting: “When you are in another country and something like this happens, there is naturally a sense of fear. But it was not a severe situation and I did not face any major travel difficulties, and there were no problems relating to accommodation or food.
Continuously monitoring
The Indian government is continuously monitoring the evolving airspace situation in the Middle East and its impact on international flights. The Ministry of Civil Aviation said Indian carriers would operate 58 flights on Wednesday.
Calibrated adjustments to the schedules of the carriers have been done and long-haul and ultra-long-haul flights are being resumed through alternative routings, avoiding restricted airspace. The ministry also monitoring airfares to ensure there is no undue surge. Airlines have been asked to communicate with passengers and adhere to regulatory requirements relating to refunds, rescheduling and passenger help.
Indian carriers including Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Air and SpiceJet plan to operate special flights to bring stranded passengers from Dubai and other cities in the Gulf to India. The flights will operate from New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad. Passengers in Dubai have been advised to proceed to the airports only after their airlines contact them with confirmed departure time.
IndiGo announced that it has resumed flights to Muscat, Jeddah, Madinah and Athens along with select repatriation flights to the UAE.
“With the safety of our customers and crew as our highest priority, provided we have the approvals, we do strive to increase the frequency of repatriation flights to the UAE, from tomorrow (Thursday) to further support customers awaiting travel,” said the airline.
“Customers are advised to continue monitoring their flight status and stay attentive to updates shared through their registered contact details. If you are scheduled to travel, we kindly request that you wait for confirmation from us before proceeding to the airport.”
