Switzerland’s flag-carrier subsidiary Edelweiss Air mounted an emergency air-bridge on 7 March 2026, dispatching two Airbus A330s from Muscat and Salalah to Zurich to bring home travellers stranded by the widening Middle-East conflict. The operation, organised in concert with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and local authorities in the Sultanate of Oman, lifted a total of 404 passengers, including 215 Swiss nationals. According to Edelweiss spokesperson Andreas Meier, the airline split its normally scheduled weekend service into two rotations to double capacity after a Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) evacuation flight earlier in the week filled up within minutes. Seats on the special flights were allocated via the FDFA’s Travel Admin app, with priority given to Swiss passport-holders, residents, and travellers with urgent medical or family reasons to return. A technical fuel stop in Hurghada, Egypt, was required for the Salalah rotation to avoid Saudi airspace restrictions. The FDFA said almost 4,000 Swiss citizens were still registered as wanting to leave Gulf states affected by drone and missile strikes.
![Edelweiss operates two special repatriation flights from Oman to Zurich]()
Travellers scrambling for emergency flights may also run into last-minute visa or transit-document hurdles. VisaHQ’s Swiss portal (https://www.visahq.com/switzerland/) can step in quickly, enabling citizens and residents to arrange e-visas, passport renewals and other consular paperwork online with real-time tracking and multilingual support—an extra layer of assurance when embassy counters are closed or routes change at short notice.
Because much of the region’s upper airspace remains closed or heavily restricted, airlines must request ad-hoc over-flight and landing rights. Edelweiss confirmed that 70 seats – 19 on the Muscat sector and 51 on the Salalah leg – ultimately went unused, highlighting the logistical challenge of getting travellers to departure points under curfews and fuel shortages. Jens Fehlinger, CEO of parent carrier SWISS, told SRF radio that the Lufthansa Group has an emergency task-force standing by to organise further flights “day by day”. However, he warned that only three narrow corridors – over the North Pole, via Turkey/Azerbaijan, and through Saudi Arabia – are currently available for Asia-bound services, forcing costly detours and crew-duty re-planning. Despite the disruption, Fehlinger said safety margins and spare capacity remain sufficient for the time being. For companies managing mobile workforces the episode underscores the need for robust traveller-tracking, contingency routing and clear communication of liability. Firms with Gulf operations are already reviewing insurance cover and crisis-management clauses to reflect the FDFA’s reminder that repatriation support is based on “last-resort” principles and individual responsibility.
Travellers scrambling for emergency flights may also run into last-minute visa or transit-document hurdles. VisaHQ’s Swiss portal (https://www.visahq.com/switzerland/) can step in quickly, enabling citizens and residents to arrange e-visas, passport renewals and other consular paperwork online with real-time tracking and multilingual support—an extra layer of assurance when embassy counters are closed or routes change at short notice.
Because much of the region’s upper airspace remains closed or heavily restricted, airlines must request ad-hoc over-flight and landing rights. Edelweiss confirmed that 70 seats – 19 on the Muscat sector and 51 on the Salalah leg – ultimately went unused, highlighting the logistical challenge of getting travellers to departure points under curfews and fuel shortages. Jens Fehlinger, CEO of parent carrier SWISS, told SRF radio that the Lufthansa Group has an emergency task-force standing by to organise further flights “day by day”. However, he warned that only three narrow corridors – over the North Pole, via Turkey/Azerbaijan, and through Saudi Arabia – are currently available for Asia-bound services, forcing costly detours and crew-duty re-planning. Despite the disruption, Fehlinger said safety margins and spare capacity remain sufficient for the time being. For companies managing mobile workforces the episode underscores the need for robust traveller-tracking, contingency routing and clear communication of liability. Firms with Gulf operations are already reviewing insurance cover and crisis-management clauses to reflect the FDFA’s reminder that repatriation support is based on “last-resort” principles and individual responsibility.
