Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings will conduct its first in-house evacuation flight on Friday night to bring around 150 holidaymakers back to Germany from the crisis area in the Persian Gulf.
An Airbus A320, flight number EW6131, is scheduled to land at Cologne/Bonn Airport around 00:30 on Saturday, according to official information. The passengers are primarily customers of the tour operator Eurowings Holidays who were in Dubai and the surrounding emirates at the time of the military escalation. Since civil air traffic in the United Arab Emirates remains severely restricted due to the security situation, the travelers will first be transported by bus across the border to the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, from where the special flight will depart.
This deployment marks a change of course within the Lufthansa Group, which, in the context of the current crisis, has so far primarily acted as a service provider for government-organized repatriation efforts by the German government. The decision to operate its own charter flight underscores the need to quickly evacuate private package tourists from the unstable region, as commercial scheduled flights are currently unreliable or have ceased altogether. At the same time, the German Foreign Office is intensifying its efforts: Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul confirmed that, following the flights already completed from Oman, a government-organized evacuation from Riyadh will now also take place. A Sundair aircraft has been chartered for this purpose for this coming Sunday afternoon.
The logistical preparation for these repatriations is highly complex due to the volatile security situation and the necessary overland transport. Particularly vulnerable German citizens, including the sick, the elderly, and pregnant women, are currently being transported from the Emirate of Qatar to Saudi Arabia in a coordinated manner to ensure their connection to the special flights. Further research in the aviation sector reveals that such operations require precise coordination of overflight permits, as large parts of the regional airspace are closed or reserved for military operations. The German government is utilizing the crisis preparedness list "Elefand" to manage the demand and prioritization of available seats.
The current situation in the Persian Gulf has severely disrupted international air traffic between Europe and Asia, forcing airlines to make massive route adjustments. While Eurowings is offering a direct solution for its package holiday passengers with a flight to Cologne, the situation remains precarious for thousands of independent travelers in the region. Experts anticipate that further charter flights will be necessary in the coming days if a swift de-escalation does not occur. In this context, the German government emphasizes the importance of official registration for all its citizens abroad, so that assistance can be provided as quickly as possible in an emergency.