Two European Commission-chartered repatriation flights have landed in Warsaw, bringing 303 European citizens home after they were stranded in the Middle East.
The flights arrived as part of a wider EU effort that has involved more than 70 flights coordinated through the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC), the European Commission announced on Thursday.
More than 8,000 European citizens have returned home through the EU mobilisation, travelling back to countries including France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Poland.
The latest two flights departed from Saudi Arabia and Oman and carried 277 Polish nationals and 76 citizens of other European countries.
Those passengers had been stranded in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The European Commission said it deployed its own transport capacity “under rescEU” — an EU reserve that can provide resources such as aircraft during crises — after a request from the Polish authorities.
Hadja Lahbib, the Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, said more than 8,000 people had already returned safely from the Middle East through EU repatriation flights.
“We will continue to protect our citizens wherever they are,” she declared.
More flights planned
The ERCC coordinates requests for help and matches them with available transport offered by participating countries.
These operations can be co-financed by the EU, and the Centre can also charter planes itself when member states cannot provide assistance at the time.
More repatriation flights — including using rescEU planes — are planned in the coming days, with 23 countries having requested EU assistance to bring their citizens home from the Middle East.
