Nearly 200 Indians who were stuck in West Asia landed safely in Ahmedabad late Tuesday night. They arrived on a special IndiGo flight from Jeddah. Their return brought relief to worried families in Gujarat.

The aircraft had earlier taken off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. It flew to Jeddah and brought back passengers affected by major travel disruptions caused by the Iran-Israel conflict.

Air Travel Hit Across West Asia

Rising tensions between Iran and Israel have badly affected air services across West Asia. Many countries closed their airspace. As a result, thousands of passengers were stranded.

Authorities restarted limited evacuation flights from cities such as Mumbai and Delhi. Ahmedabad has now joined these special evacuation efforts.

Officials are also working to arrange return flights through Etihad Airways and Emirates from Ahmedabad.

However, the tense situation forced several cancellations on Tuesday afternoon. These included IndiGo flights from Ahmedabad to Jeddah, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi. A SpiceJet flight from Ahmedabad to Dubai was also cancelled.

Thousands of Flights Cancelled

Since the conflict began last Saturday, airlines have cancelled more than 6,000 flights. Most West Asian airspace remains closed.

Data from Flightradar24 on Wednesday showed disruptions across key airports. These include Dubai International Airport, Hamad International Airport, Istanbul Airport and Zayed International Airport.

By Monday morning, most flights to several Middle Eastern destinations had stopped operating.

According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, 79 per cent of global flights to Qatar were cancelled. About 71 per cent of flights to the United Arab Emirates did not operate. The disruption was even worse in other places. Airlines cancelled 81 per cent of flights to Israel and 92 per cent of flights to Bahrain.

The large-scale cancellations show how deeply the regional conflict has disrupted international air travel.