Why the UK government charter flight failed to take off as scheduled

• A UK government-chartered flight, intended to repatriate Britons from the Middle East, did not depart from Muscat, Oman, as scheduled on Wednesday evening.
• The plane was due to leave Muscat at 7pm on Wednesday but remained on the ground on Thursday morning.
• The Foreign Office confirmed on Thursday that the charter flight was not able to depart from Oman “due to technical issues” and is now expected to depart later on Thursday.
• The Foreign Office is working with airlines to bring back about 130,000 Britons who have registered their presence in the Middle East amidst regional tensions.
• While some commercial flights from the Middle East were delayed or cancelled, others, including one from Riyadh, arrived as scheduled at Heathrow.

IN FULL

UK’s first chartered flight to evacuate Britons from Middle East fails to take off