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Dubai: When regional airspace closures swept across the Middle East due to the US-Israel-Iran war at the end of February, thousands of UAE residents found themselves stranded far from home.
For some, the journey back meant days on buses through desert highways. For others, it meant hopping across three continents before finally crossing the border by road. What united them all was a singular determination: to get back to the UAE, their second home.
Second time around
For Rashid Abbas, managing director of Dubai-based Arooha Travels, getting caught in a travel disruption because of regional tensions was a familiar experience. “This is actually the second time I’ve been caught in a travel disruption because of regional tensions. Last year, during the attack on a US base in Qatar, I was stranded in Doha while on a business trip. So, this experience felt very familiar,” he said.
This year, he was among those stranded in Madinah in Saudi Arabia after regional airspace closures disrupted flights. He and his friend Irshad Aboobacker had travelled from Dubai to Makkah on February 25 with flydubai to perform Umrah. After three days in Makkah, they moved on to Madinah to complete their pilgrimage, with a return flight to Dubai scheduled for the night of March 1.
After the night prayers, they woke up to missed calls and quickly learned their flight had been cancelled. “The airline informed us that our flight had been cancelled and that only a few flights were operating from Madinah,” Abbas said.
A 28-hour journey
The two explored alternatives, including flights via Oman, but those were immediately fully booked. Bus routes through Oman were similarly overwhelmed. With few options left, they decided to travel by road.
Departing Madinah on March 1, they took a bus for around 17 hours to the Saudi border at Al Sila in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi, then another bus to Dubai, a further six hours.
“It was a very long and tiring trip. Totally, we travelled for 28 hours. We even broke our fast on the road during the journey,” Abbas said.
The pair reached Dubai early in the morning on March 3. “I just wanted to get back because my family and my everything are here in Dubai,” he said.
Uganda-Ethiopia-India-Oman-UAE
Abdul Sami Abdul Naeem Nabeel, who runs a granite and marble company in Dubai, had flown to Kampala, Uganda, on February 26 to explore the African market after being invited by a supplier. His return flight with flydubai on February 28 was cancelled when Dubai airport closed, leaving him stranded in a hotel in the Ugandan capital, uncertain of when or how he would get home.
With no direct route back to the UAE available, Nabeel eventually flew with Ethiopian Airlines from Kampala on March 3, with stopovers in Addis Ababa and Bangalore, before reaching Hyderabad, his hometown in India where his mother lives. The next day, he secured a ticket on Oman Air and flew to Muscat on March 5, then hired a taxi from the airport to Dubai, a road journey of around seven hours.
The entire reroute —Kampala to Bangalore via Addis Ababa, Bangalore to Hyderabad, Hyderabad to Muscat, Muscat to Dubai — cost him around Dh10,000 in flights and transport combined.
No second thought
For Nabeel, who was born in Abu Dhabi in 1975 and has spent virtually his entire life in the UAE, the ordeal while he was fasting was made harder by one simple fact: his wife and two daughters, were in Dubai the entire time. “While I was travelling, it was an extremely stressful time for me.”
However, he said the thought of asking his family to leave and come to India never crossed his mind. “I’ve been born and living in this country for 50 years. My two daughters live here. There is no way we’ll think of leaving, no matter what. We pray for Dubai to be in a safe zone. No matter what, we have a life in this country.”
A return of loyalty
Dr Thahira Kallumurikkal, an Indian clinical audiologist, social worker and author based in Al Ain, had travelled alone to Kerala to attend a literary event to collect the prestigious SK Pottekkatt award for her Malayalam novel Inthadhar, the profits from which she had pledged to the families affected by the devastating 2024 Wayanad landslides.
She had planned a short extension to spend a few days with her eldest son, who now studies in India, before returning by Tuesday, March 3.
Then, on Saturday, February 28, just after the award ceremony, news of the conflict broke. Her ticket was cancelled. Her husband and two younger children were back in Al Ain.
She had options. Her children’s exams had been cancelled, replaced by online classes and their academic year-end break was following. She could have asked her family to fly to India. But she chose differently.
Though she also holds a US visa, she arranged an e-visa to Oman to ensure there is no issue with her entry to Muscat. After landing in Muscat, she made her way back by road to Al Ain.
Seen UAE’s care firsthand
“I felt it was right to return,” she said. “I’ve worked closely with this government during the COVID pandemic. I was part of the Abu Dhabi health emergency operations team, and I worked as the Care Coordination Team Lead for Asian countries. I have witnessed firsthand how this government and its leaders take care of us expats. So, I took it as an opportunity to show my loyalty to this country.”
During the journey, she spoke with fellow passengers, most of them also heading back to the UAE despite having no obligation to do so.
“Those were people working in different fields who could have chosen to stay back home. But what I heard from all of them was the same thing: how can we not return when this country gives us so much protection and reassurance? This is the time we need to show our solidarity and support.”
She said she was glad to have made it back and joined work.
Nine days in Uzbekistan
For UAE-based travel and lifestyle vloggers Raheema Shaneed and Muhsi Baali, a routine work trip to Uzbekistan on February 26 — to shoot promotional content for a medical university — turned into a nine-day extended stay. Originally due back on March 1, they found themselves exploring routes through Turkey, Bosnia and Oman as flight after flight was cancelled.
“We thought maybe in one or two days things would be fine, but the situation kept escalating,” Raheema said.
Only six passengers
The team that had brought them to Uzbekistan extended its hospitality throughout. But as news emerged of strikes in Azerbaijan, the mood shifted. “That’s when we really started feeling stressed and wanted to return,” she said.
When a flydubai evacuation flight was finally arranged, even that came with uncertainty: a 4am departure was cancelled, then the 6pm flight was also scrapped. “Finally, there was an 8pm flight. When we reached the airport, there was almost no one in the lounge. Only six passengers were on that flight returning.” The pair landed in Dubai on March 9.
The disruption also cost them a planned group trip on April 6, which had to be cancelled.
