Poland’s foreign ministry confirmed on Sunday morning that its multi-agency evacuation from the Middle East has already repatriated 7,028 citizens on 38 flights—a scale not seen since the early days of the pandemic. Three aircraft—two military C-130s and a chartered LOT Dreamliner—touched down at Warsaw Chopin Airport on Saturday night with 282 passengers from Qatar, bringing the rolling total above the seven-thousand mark.
The airlift, launched on 28 February after a dramatic escalation of hostilities between Iran, the US and Israel, has relied on a patchwork of military lift, LOT extra-sections and places bought on partner carriers. According to MFA spokesman Maciej Wewiór, evacuation hubs have been set up in Doha, Muscat and Dubai, with Polish diplomats physically staffing airport transit zones to shepherd groups onto inbound flights.
For travelers who still need to secure onward transit visas, replace lost travel documents, or simply validate their documentation before boarding relief flights, VisaHQ can streamline the process. The company’s online portal for Polish citizens (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) lets users apply for visas to more than 200 destinations, arrange passport photos and receive real-time status alerts—an invaluable safety net when itineraries shift on short notice.
![Over 7,000 Poles flown home as government airlift from Middle East hits 38 flights]()
Authorities say around 1,000 Poles per day are still seeking to leave the Gulf as lay-overs lengthen and commercial schedules remain volatile. Consular hotlines report the biggest bottlenecks among budget-airline passengers who cannot easily re-book online. In response, the government has called on low-cost carriers and travel agencies to waive change fees and to feed stranded customers into LOT’s growing relief-flight matrix.
For companies managing rotational staff or project teams in energy and construction hotspots such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the message is clear: build redundancy into crew-change plans and ensure travellers hold flexible tickets that allow rerouting via Europe or Central Asia. Mobility professionals should also remind employees to keep multiple passport copies and proof of Polish residency in hand: military flights require additional document checks under NATO Host-Nation rules.
While Warsaw insists it can sustain the operation for “as long as necessary,” budget watchdogs note that each military sortie costs upwards of PLN 1.5 million. Analysts therefore expect the foreign ministry to taper the programme within two weeks, once commercial capacity stabilises—leaving employers to fund any further assisted departures themselves.
The airlift, launched on 28 February after a dramatic escalation of hostilities between Iran, the US and Israel, has relied on a patchwork of military lift, LOT extra-sections and places bought on partner carriers. According to MFA spokesman Maciej Wewiór, evacuation hubs have been set up in Doha, Muscat and Dubai, with Polish diplomats physically staffing airport transit zones to shepherd groups onto inbound flights.
For travelers who still need to secure onward transit visas, replace lost travel documents, or simply validate their documentation before boarding relief flights, VisaHQ can streamline the process. The company’s online portal for Polish citizens (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) lets users apply for visas to more than 200 destinations, arrange passport photos and receive real-time status alerts—an invaluable safety net when itineraries shift on short notice.
Authorities say around 1,000 Poles per day are still seeking to leave the Gulf as lay-overs lengthen and commercial schedules remain volatile. Consular hotlines report the biggest bottlenecks among budget-airline passengers who cannot easily re-book online. In response, the government has called on low-cost carriers and travel agencies to waive change fees and to feed stranded customers into LOT’s growing relief-flight matrix.
For companies managing rotational staff or project teams in energy and construction hotspots such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the message is clear: build redundancy into crew-change plans and ensure travellers hold flexible tickets that allow rerouting via Europe or Central Asia. Mobility professionals should also remind employees to keep multiple passport copies and proof of Polish residency in hand: military flights require additional document checks under NATO Host-Nation rules.
While Warsaw insists it can sustain the operation for “as long as necessary,” budget watchdogs note that each military sortie costs upwards of PLN 1.5 million. Analysts therefore expect the foreign ministry to taper the programme within two weeks, once commercial capacity stabilises—leaving employers to fund any further assisted departures themselves.
