A passenger plane has left the United Arab Emirates and arrived in Japan amid air travel disruptions caused by US-Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliatory strikes by Tehran.
It is the first such flight from the UAE to Japan since Sunday, when services connecting the Middle Eastern country to three Japanese airports — Haneda, Narita and Kansai — began to be canceled. The cancellations followed the closure of the UAE airspace.
The Emirates flight left Dubai on Thursday and touched down at Haneda at around 11 p.m. on the same day.
One passenger, a Dubai resident in her 20s, said that before leaving, she had been in a state of panic and feared that she might die. She added that she is glad to have returned to Japan, where her family lives.
Another passenger, a woman in her 70s, had been visiting Dubai on a sightseeing trip. She said she is relieved to be back after worrying she might be unable to return.
Despite some signs that flights between the UAE and Japan are resuming, Qatar’s airspace remains closed. Japan Airlines plans to cancel its flights between Haneda and Doha through March 14.
AloJapan.com