Italy’s foreign ministry (Farnesina) activated its Crisis Unit at dawn on 4 March 2026 after a sudden escalation of hostilities around the Strait of Hormuz led the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to restrict civilian over-flights. Within hours the ministry confirmed that commercial links into Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha had become “highly unreliable”, stranding an estimated 2,500 Italian passport-holders who had been transiting through the Gulf hubs on business or leisure trips. The government’s response has been to open a multi-airport “air-bridge” centred on Muscat, the capital of neighbouring Oman. Chartered Neos wide-bodies and military KC-767 transporters are shuttling between Muscat, Rome-Fiumicino and Milan-Malpensa, while a Farnesina rapid-response team mans reception desks both at Muscat International Airport and on the UAE-Oman land border to guide coaches carrying evacuees.
![Farnesina launches emergency air-bridge from the Gulf as Italian nationals scramble to leave conflict zone]()
For Italian citizens whose travel plans have been upended, VisaHQ can help salvage itineraries by securing replacement visas or transit permits the moment alternative routes become available. Via its dedicated Italy portal (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) the service offers expedited processing, courier pick-up and real-time status alerts—critical for businesses trying to redeploy staff quickly and for holiday-makers facing rescheduled, multi-stop journeys.
Passengers must register on the Crisis Unit’s DoveSiamonelMondo portal or the dedicated WhatsApp number to receive flight allocations. Priority is being given to medical cases, school groups and employees of Italian multinationals with critical assignments. For companies the episode is a textbook reminder of why traveller-tracking and contingency budgets matter. Several listed Italian firms have already invoked force-majeure clauses after sales teams were caught in Dubai during last weekend’s air-space closures. Travel managers are being urged to reroute any March trips to Asia or Australia via Istanbul, Athens or Singapore until normal schedules resume. Insurers, meanwhile, have warned that the Gulf has become a ‘named peril’ region, meaning that additional war-risk premiums now apply. Although the government emphasises that the operation is temporary, officials admit privately that flights could continue for “at least two weeks” if diplomatic efforts fail. The interior ministry has asked the Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) to ring-fence arrival slots for the repatriation flights, and border police at Fiumicino confirmed they are prepared to process up to 800 passengers per day under simplified emergency-entry procedures. Employers with staff in the Gulf are advised to: 1) ensure their people are enrolled on Farnesina’s portal; 2) revalidate medical insurance to include war-risk evacuation; and 3) prepare for a mandatory 48-hour debrief in Italy under the health ministry’s new ‘post-crisis assistance’ scheme covering psychological support and medical screening.
For Italian citizens whose travel plans have been upended, VisaHQ can help salvage itineraries by securing replacement visas or transit permits the moment alternative routes become available. Via its dedicated Italy portal (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) the service offers expedited processing, courier pick-up and real-time status alerts—critical for businesses trying to redeploy staff quickly and for holiday-makers facing rescheduled, multi-stop journeys.
Passengers must register on the Crisis Unit’s DoveSiamonelMondo portal or the dedicated WhatsApp number to receive flight allocations. Priority is being given to medical cases, school groups and employees of Italian multinationals with critical assignments. For companies the episode is a textbook reminder of why traveller-tracking and contingency budgets matter. Several listed Italian firms have already invoked force-majeure clauses after sales teams were caught in Dubai during last weekend’s air-space closures. Travel managers are being urged to reroute any March trips to Asia or Australia via Istanbul, Athens or Singapore until normal schedules resume. Insurers, meanwhile, have warned that the Gulf has become a ‘named peril’ region, meaning that additional war-risk premiums now apply. Although the government emphasises that the operation is temporary, officials admit privately that flights could continue for “at least two weeks” if diplomatic efforts fail. The interior ministry has asked the Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) to ring-fence arrival slots for the repatriation flights, and border police at Fiumicino confirmed they are prepared to process up to 800 passengers per day under simplified emergency-entry procedures. Employers with staff in the Gulf are advised to: 1) ensure their people are enrolled on Farnesina’s portal; 2) revalidate medical insurance to include war-risk evacuation; and 3) prepare for a mandatory 48-hour debrief in Italy under the health ministry’s new ‘post-crisis assistance’ scheme covering psychological support and medical screening.
