Delayed first government repatriation flight lands in UK 

UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has said 4,000 British nationals have returned to the UK following the continuing conflict between the US, Israel and Iran.

Speaking at a press conference at 10 Downing Street, Starmer revealed this figure was out of a total of 140,000 who have registered their presence in the Middle East.

He said: “This is a huge undertaking. It is not going to happen overnight."

Starmer also confirmed the government’s first repatriation flight from Oman had finally taken off after being delayed.

The flight from Muscat to London was due to depart on the evening of March 4 but was delayed due to “technical issues”. The flight landed in Stansted in the early hours of Friday. 

He added the UK will send four fighter jets to Qatar to strengthen operations in the region and had pre-deployed assets to "protect" Cyprus in January and February.

Starmer said he could not give a timeline for how long the conflict may go on for, but it was his “strong view” that de-escalation was needed, which will be “a matter of negotiation on core issues”.

Several airlines have begun to operate flights out of the Gulf region.

Qatar Airways said it planned to start “a limited number” of relief flights from Europe from March 5, while British Airways confirmed it would operate a flight from Muscat to London early on the same morning.

Another BA flight from Muscat scheduled for March 8 is now fully booked, the airline confirmed on Thursday. 

“We are constantly reviewing the situation and will continue to do everything we can to support our customers and colleagues in the region, and if we are able to, we will add additional services,” BA said.

Virgin Atlantic said it would resume some London flights to Dubai and Riyadh after airspace partially reopened on March 2. 

Gulf carriers have resumed limited services across their global networks.