This Friday, 260 French people were able to return from the Maldives on a plane chartered by the tour operating companies union. As an indirect consequence of the war in Iran, millions of travelers are stranded even far from the conflict zone.
“Is it Friday? » asks Jeoffrey, up since 4 a.m. the day before and frankly disoriented. He is returning from his shortened honeymoon in the Maldives with his wife Mélissa. The young Belgian couple in matching fluorescent holiday outfits has just landed at Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Roissy. Their tour operator offered them the opportunity to board a specially chartered plane, even though there are no longer any commercial flights to Europe from these paradise islands. “We lost four days, but we were right, our flight scheduled for Sunday has just been canceled,” notes Mélissa in a long skirt and hooded sweatshirt.
And for good reason, most of the journeys to reach the Maldives go through the Emirates, Etihad or Qatar Airways companies, whose planes are grounded by missile and drone fire on the Gulf countries, responses after the Israeli-American attack on Iran.
Coincés dans un atoll…
From Terminal 2 at Roissy, the young bride, with a tanned complexion and an exhausted look, smiles: “There are worse…” When organizing their early return, the lovebirds from Outre Quiévrain had time to sympathize with David and Fanny, French people from Ostricourt (North), also on a honeymoon in the opposite situation. They were due to return last Saturday, but had to “extend their stay by six days”.
Stuck on an atoll in the Indian Ocean, the dream? Not so much says Fanny, who works in nursery school in zone B and should therefore have returned to school on Monday. “We weren’t on our island but in Malé, the capital, in a not-so-top hotel, where they were happy with the prices…” Fortunately the children who remained at home were under the care of their “grandma”.
In total, tens of thousands of tourists have found themselves trapped in the Maldives since Saturday February 28, including around 1,500 French people. After the first 260 repatriated this Friday, March 6, two other flights are planned for Sunday, 8 and Tuesday, 10. “This is the blind spot of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” points out Patrice Caradec, the president of Seto, the union of tour-operating companies. Because these nationals are not under bombs. But they have a life, a job…
So, the French tour operators (Exotismes, Nautil, Club Med, Kuoni and Maison des Voyages), usually competitors, joined forces to organize this evacuation at their own expense. Customers did not pay a single euro. “This operation is a source of great pride! We’ve experienced it once in our lives, it’s going to cost a lot and it’s going to be enough,” smiles Pierre Cosentino, the talkative director of Oovatu (from the Nautil group), in a white jacket and sneakers.
“Our priority has been to manage the situation of our clients in the Gulf, but on Saturday we set up a crisis unit to closely monitor each case in the Maldives,” reports Gonzague de Gelis, the boss of Kuoni. The UU9902 was operated by Air Austral which rerouted a plane from Reunion Island to Malé, a “challenge” insists Éric Orsini, the airline’s station manager at Roissy.
The journey of these French people trapped on their vacation spot is far from being an isolated case. With the closure of major Gulf hubs Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, according to aerial data provider Cirium, 56.4% of flights were canceled on arrival or between Middle Eastern countries. Around three million passengers were therefore deprived of their flights.
Landlocked destinations
All global traffic is shaken, certain destinations find themselves landlocked. “95% of tour operator customers who leave for stays in Asia, from the Maldives to Sri Lanka via Thailand, Vietnam or even Bali, stopover at one of these airports, the remaining 5% make the journey directly when the line is still open or with a stopover in Germany or Turkey,” explains Patrice. Caradec.
From terminal 2 at Roissy, Tracy, in jogging pants and a long vest, lets out a “big sigh of relief” at the same time as several pink suitcases. On the second day of her romantic vacation with her husband Franck, some French people told them that war was hitting Iran and that the sky was almost blocked. “We were completely disconnected. The stress suddenly increased! “Especially when they heard about the Air France plane leaving to repatriate compatriots from Dubai which turned around following “missile fire”.
A group of eight friends with luggage galore and grown-up children, some of whom are wearing T-shirts decorated with sea turtles and tropical flowers, say goodbye after these eventful holidays. One of them, Filipe, who wears a wooden bead necklace, has a thought for “his former neighbors on the island of Kuramathi”. Belgians stuck for more than seven days who still have no way back. “Of course, we were very lucky,†he smiles.
The head of the tour operators union, Patrice Caradec, confirms. Especially since “even when the bombs stop, it will take days, even weeks, for air traffic to return to normal.”
