After days of uncertainty, passengers stranded in West Asia land in Hyderabad on special flights

It was around 9.15 p.m. at the arrivals gate of Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) when hundreds of passengers began streaming out, many greeted by anxious families who had been waiting for hours. The travellers had been stranded in parts of West Asia amid escalating tensions and temporary airspace closures, and were brought back to the city on special flights operated late on Tuesday evening.

Two flights, an Etihad service from Abu Dhabi and an Emirates flight from Dubai, landed at the airport at around 8.30 p.m., carrying passengers whose journeys had been disrupted over the past few days.