A British Airways evacuation flight from the Middle East took off with more than 100 empty seats despite thousands of Brits registering as stranded in the Gulf.
The twin-jet Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flew Flight BA80 from Muscat, Oman, to Heathrow, landing at 10.35am on Monday.
Around 100 pilots and crew members from BA and other airlines were on board despite the aircraft’s full capacity being 300 passengers.
However, BA’s seat layout can carry closer to 220 people.
The flight had left Heathrow on Sunday just before 4pm and arrived in Muscat early Monday morning, carrying only its pilots, before a four-hour turnaround to fly back.
BA does not usually operate flights to Oman and needed special permission to land in the country.
It meant BA did not have baggage crews or passenger services in place to allow commercial passengers on board, according to the airline.
Crew members were easier to evacuate because these flights have different safety needs and do not require in-flight service, among other factors.
British Airways flew an evacuation flight on Monday which had 100 empty seats (file pic)
Major international airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha were closed as Iran attacked targets in response to the attack which killed its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It comes as Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said a government charter flight would leave Muscat ‘in the coming days’ prioritising ‘vulnerable nationals’.
The Foreign Office was working on ‘contingency plans’ if airspace around the Gulf remained shut down.
With flights grounded over the weekend as Iran continued retaliatory strikes following the joint US-Israel attack on the country at the weekend, the crew members on the BA flight were driven to Oman from across the Gulf.
The Times reported that because BA did not serve Muscat directly, it asked for approval from Omani authorities before landing the evacuation flights.
On Tuesday the airline said it would fly from Muscat on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
More than 130,000 British citizens have registered their locations with the government as the Foreign Office advised Britons to shelter in place as Iranian strikes continued.
An industry source told The Times: ‘It’s extraordinary that BA didn’t fill their first flight out with passengers desperate to leave the region, as other airlines such as Emirates and Etihad have done.
Muscat Airport in Oman, where some evacuation flights have been able to take off
Mr Rae said he would claim compensation from BA.
‘BA takes passenger contact details precisely for such crisis reasons.’
Andrew Rae, a retired ship broker from Gloucestershire, told The Times he had gone to Dubai to celebrate his 62nd birthday with his family.
He had been set to fly back to Heathrow with BA but saw multiple flights cancelled, so booked with another airline for himself and his wife Emma at a combined cost of £4,000.
‘I feel there has been zero help. We’ve been left to our own devices,’ he said.
‘They have sent an empty aircraft to help the crew, which is a positive thing, but haven’t bothered to do that to passengers left stranded.
‘For BA to send a plane over and come back with empty seats is frankly pathetic.’
Private jet companies said they had seen outbound bookings from Muscat soar, with EnterJet – a company which connects clients with private aircraft – telling the FT bookings were up 40 per cent since Saturday.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said a government charter flight would leave Muscat ‘in the coming days’
It added Muscat was ‘the only really viable option’.
A BA spokesperson told the Daily Mail it was currently unable to fly from airports including Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Amman and Tel Aviv.
They said the airline was ‘continuing to do everything we can to support customers and colleagues in the region and are in regular contact with them’.
The spokesperson confirmed a BA flight would leave Oman for London at 2.30am local time on March 5.
‘Existing customers who are in Oman can let us know they wish to travel on these flights via a dedicated phone line: +44 203 467 3854,’ they said.
Some flights have returned Brits back to the UK but most remained cancelled.
BA said customers due to fly with them between Heathrow and Middle Eastern airports up to and including March 15 could change their flight free of charge or request a refund subject to certain conditions.
