France plans charter flights to repatriate citizens from Middle East

France is preparing measures to repatriate its citizens from the Middle East as regional tensions continue to disrupt travel, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said in an interview with BFMTV.

Barrot said the government was working on organising charter flights to return the most vulnerable French nationals. The operation could include both commercial flights and aircraft provided by the French state. He added that embassies and consulates across the region were compiling lists of citizens who had requested assistance in returning home.

According to government data, around 400,000 French citizens are currently in twelve Middle Eastern countries affected by the conflict. Barrot urged tourists to register with the Foreign Ministry’s dedicated mobile application to help authorities coordinate evacuation efforts more efficiently.

The minister also stated that consular teams had been deployed to Israel’s borders with Egypt and Jordan to facilitate overland crossings and onward flights from those countries.

Similar arrangements, he said, were in place in the United Arab Emirates, as well as along the borders with Oman and Saudi Arabia, where airspace remains open.

By Sabina Mammadli