There was tangible relief among Canadians who landed Friday morning in Toronto on a flight from Dubai, as an escalating conflict in the Middle East causes travel chaos that has included thousands of flight cancellations.
Returning travellers described a long and anxious process to find their way home. Meanwhile, the Canadian government announced Friday it had secured hundreds of seats on chartered and commercial flights out of the region.
Neil Danics said he travelled with his wife Irene to attend a conference in the United Arab Emirates last week and wanted to spend a few days in Dubai before returning home on Tuesday, but their flight was cancelled due to the war.
It was “very hard” to make their way out, he said.
Danics said he and his wife sheltered in a parking garage underground on the first night of the war, which began when the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on Saturday.
He said the couple heard explosions almost every night since then as the conflict spread to other parts of the region and stymied transportation routes.
Danics said the couple were preparing to find transportation to Oman and fly out from that country, but they were ultimately able to get on a flight from Dubai to Toronto early Friday morning.
“We’re very happy to be home. The family is happy to have us back. Everybody was worried. We were worried to get stuck there,” he said.
“We weren’t worried for our safety, but more worried that things could change and then maybe it would be a lot harder to get home.”
Mukesh Desai said he and his wife got stranded in Dubai as they were on their way back home to Toronto on Saturday.
He said their airline provided a hotel room and they waited for almost a week to get on another flight.
“There were a few explosions here, but most of those explosions, we were advised that they were for the intercepting of the drones and the missiles,” he said.
“We were not scared because we were given assurance.”
Nonetheless, Desai said he and his wife were relieved to have arrived in Toronto.
“Overall, we are happy that we are back home.”
There is difficulty ahead for those who are still stuck.
Air Canada said Friday afternoon that it was cancelling all of its flights between Toronto and Dubai until at least March 28, as well as its flights between Toronto and Tel Aviv until at least May 2 due to the ongoing conflict.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Friday that a chartered flight was set to take 180 Canadians fleeing the war zone from Dubai to Istanbul on Saturday.
Anand said the flight would operate on a cost-recovery basis.
The government has also block-booked about 50 seats each on a few Air Arabia flights for Canadians travelling from Dubai to Istanbul, she said.
The minister said the government also booked 51 seats for Canadians on an Emirates flight leaving Dubai for Toronto on Saturday, and 200 seats on four separate flights from Beirut to Istanbul in the coming days.
Anand added that roughly 325 seats on commercial flights had been secured already for Canadians by diplomatic staff in Beirut.
“We are aware that Canadians have been making their own arrangements, with some choosing ground transportation. I want to reiterate that any ground transportation carries risk,” Anand said.
She added that evacuation by sea is “especially dangerous” right now. She said her team is working on getting “all options” on the table to help Canadians who need assistance leaving the region.
Anand said her ministry is working to ensure Canadians looking to return home with an expired passport will be able to get an emergency travel document. She said anyone in need of an emergency document should contact local Canadian consular officials.
Anand also confirmed during Friday’s virtual news conference that Canada has four chartered buses with a total of 180 seats that will leave Qatar for Saudi Arabia beginning Saturday.
Anand said more than 108,000 Canadians in the region have registered with Global Affairs Canada, and about 3,500 of them have asked for help to leave.
“It was tough to get a flight back,” said Anil Kumar, who was stranded in Dubai after his flight home to Toronto was cancelled on March 1.
Even on Thursday night, he said, there was concern that the scheduled Emirates flight would not be able to depart.
“I went to the airport at 8 p.m. and there was a missile alarm there and everybody rushed out of the airport,” he said. Passengers were called back in a few hours later with time to spare before the flight to Toronto.
Neha Malik, who arrived on the same flight from Dubai on Friday, said she was only starting to understand the gravity of the situation she had been in.
“Seeing my sister cry and get emotional, I can feel like obviously a bit more overwhelmed,” she said.
Her sister Eman Malik said it has been a chaotic few days trying to help family members secure flights.
“It was very stressful, and then they’d message us anytime that they’d get, like, warnings on their phone or, like, they had to shelter in place. So it was really scary and especially not knowing what was happening,” she said.
“Once we got them on a flight, it was just ‘OK, let’s pray that this flight actually takes off and it doesn’t get canceled and the airspace is OK,'” she added.
“I couldn’t breathe for a week and I feel like I can finally breathe again.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2026.
Maan Alhmidi and David Baxter, The Canadian Press
