The Polish foreign ministry confirmed on the evening of 5 March 2026 that 2 263 citizens had already been evacuated from the Middle East on 11 charter and military flights, as regional hostilities grounded commercial services. Two additional Boeing 737 military transports carrying 110 medical-priority passengers were due to land in Warsaw overnight. President Karol Nawrocki authorised the deployment of up to 150 troops between 5 and 31 March to assist evacuations from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Consular convoys escorted tour groups by bus from Dubai through the Hatta border into Oman, where onward flights departed Muscat. LOT Polish Airlines, meanwhile, announced special one-off services from Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Malé (Maldives) on 10 March to repatriate package-holiday customers stranded by flight cancellations. The carrier has extended suspensions on its scheduled Dubai and Riyadh routes and kept Tel Aviv off the timetable until at least 18 March. Travel-risk consultants urge multinational firms with staff in the Gulf to register employees with the MFA’s Odyseusz location system and review contingency contracts for private air charters. Insurance providers remind policy-holders that “war-risk” exclusions may apply to tickets purchased after the conflict escalated on 28 February.
![Poland Airlifts Citizens Home and Sends LOT Rescue Flights as Middle-East Conflict Disrupts Travel]()
For those needing to rearrange future itineraries, VisaHQ’s Poland portal can expedite visa applications for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and dozens of other destinations while collating the latest entry advisories in real time—see https://www.visahq.com/poland/ for details.
The swift, state-backed response reflects lessons from previous crises – notably the 2020 pandemic repatriations – and underscores Poland’s growing reliance on military lift capacity to safeguard mobility. Businesses operating rotational schedules in energy, defence and construction sectors should expect higher premiums and longer lead times for crew changes until commercial capacity fully resumes.
For those needing to rearrange future itineraries, VisaHQ’s Poland portal can expedite visa applications for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and dozens of other destinations while collating the latest entry advisories in real time—see https://www.visahq.com/poland/ for details.
The swift, state-backed response reflects lessons from previous crises – notably the 2020 pandemic repatriations – and underscores Poland’s growing reliance on military lift capacity to safeguard mobility. Businesses operating rotational schedules in energy, defence and construction sectors should expect higher premiums and longer lead times for crew changes until commercial capacity fully resumes.
