Repatriation flights now take less time thanks to okay from Mideast states

Now the flying time between Bangkok and Tel Aviv will be reduced from 13 and a half hours to about eight and a half hours, a source familiar with the matter said.

The two previous RTAF flights that had been sent to repatriate Thai workers from Israel had to detour over nine countries – Laos, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Cyprus – before landing at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The RTAF aircraft took the same route back to Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport.

With a green light from relevant countries for passage over their skies, RTAF flights to and from Israel will now fly past only six countries – Myanmar, India, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

Thanks to this, the flight time can be reduced by five hours.
The third RTAF flight, using an Airbus A340-500, left Bangkok on Saturday afternoon for Israel. It aims to bring back 140 Thais and is scheduled to arrive at Don Mueang Airport at 10.50am on Sunday.

The RTAF is also tasked with repatriating Thais from the Fujairah International Airport in the UAE on October 25, 28 and 31 on Airbus A340.

More than 1,200 Thais have been repatriated from Israel since the Hamas militant group launched an unprecedented attack on October 7.

The Thai government plans to fly 5,700 Thais home before the end of this month on 32 flights to be provided by the RTAF, Nok Air, Thai AirAsia, and India’s SpiceJet.

About 7,500 Thai workers in Israel – most of them hired as farm hands – have registered to return.

The repatriation of Thai citizens will speed up from Monday, with as many as 800 people on three flights per day, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Two flights will be direct and the third via Dubai, which will be the transit point for Thais flown out of Tel Aviv to board chartered flights.