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Joy at JKIA as Kenyans return from Dubai on first repatriation flight
Managing Director at Olivine school in Nyali, Olive Kamene Tindika, is welcomed as she returns from Dubai aboard Kenya Airways KQ305 flight at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), with her students, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Nairobi, Kenya, March 5, 2026.
A flight carrying Kenyans and others fleeing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) arrived in Nairobi on Thursday, including 13 children and their teachers who had been on a school trip to the Gulf.
"We were stuck there for five days...it was scary, every day we would get alerts and the children would just lose it," school director Olive Tindika told Reuters, saying the children arrived in tears at teachers' hotel rooms whenever explosions lit up the sky.
"It was a very, very traumatising experience."
Yesterday, Kenya Airways announced that it will be repatriating citizens of Kenya and the UAE on March 4 and 5, 2026, offering customers stuck in the respective countries relief amid the Middle East crisis.
"These are not regular flights, rather repatriation flights for customers who are citizens or have residency in the UAE to be able to travel out of Nairobi and vice versa," the statement said.
Passengers arrive from Dubai aboard Kenya Airways KQ305 flight at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), as citizens return home amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Nairobi, Kenya, March 5, 2026.
The announcement comes as many flights from the region have been cancelled or suspended since the US and Israel began launching attacks on Iran on Saturday.
The disruption followed US President Donald Trump's announcement confirming the commencement of military strikes on Iran, following the breakdown of nuclear negotiations in Geneva.
In response, Iran fired missiles and drones at Middle Eastern nations that are allies of the US.
Kenyans living and working in Middle East countries have expressed their anxiety as the war in the region rages on.
Those who spoke to Nation said they are currently not working and have been advised to remain at home. They felt trapped as they could not fly back home since much of the airspace in the Middle East and Gulf region was closed and flights grounded.
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