The EU is funding flights for Italy, Austria and Slovakia to repatriate citizens stranded by Middle East airspace closures and cancelled flights.

BRUSSELS: THE European Union has activated its crisis mechanism to help member states repatriate citizens stranded by the escalating Middle East conflict.

EU Crisis Management Commissioner Hadja Lahbib confirmed Italy, Austria and Slovakia are the first to request financial assistance for evacuation flights.

Under the EU’s civil protection mechanism, Brussels will reimburse member states for the bulk of evacuation costs.

Slovakia has organised two flights under the scheme, while Austria requested space for 90 passengers.

Italy is currently assessing the best method to evacuate its nationals from the region.

Lahbib stated that more EU countries are expected to activate the assistance mechanism in the coming days.

The evacuations follow US and Israeli attacks on Iran and subsequent Iranian counterattacks, which closed airspace across several countries.

Aviation data firm Cirium reported at least 12,903 flight cancellations between Saturday and Monday, affecting roughly 40% of planned flights.

While some airlines resumed limited scheduled services, dedicated evacuation flights continue to ferry stranded passengers out.

Several EU states have already begun flying out citizens without requesting Brussels’ assistance.

Lahbib estimated there are approximately 500,000 EU citizens currently in the Middle East.

However, she noted that not all of those citizens are expected to want to leave the region.

 The Sun Malaysia