DUBAI: Dubai’s super-rich have started fleeing the glitzy business hub by any means necessary, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to escape a regional war they fear has no end in sight.
The desert city in the United Arab Emirates has long welcomed the wealthy, who have been drawn to its low taxes, safety, luxury and business-friendly government.
But with that reputation on the line as Iranian missiles fly overhead, some are stumping up huge sums to secure a way out, with airspace in the UAE partially closed.
“When we saw the fire, we said OK, it´s time to go,” said Evrim, a mother of two from Turkiye, referring to a blaze that broke out after missile debris hit a luxury hotel near her home on the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai´s archipelago of man-made islands that have come to represent the city´s ostentatiousness.
She, her husband and her two young children are paying $200,000 to fly out of neighbouring Oman bound for Geneva, where they plan to wait out the war. To reach Oman´s capital Muscat, they had to drive six hours through the desert.
She felt it would only become harder to leave if the conflict dragged on, fearing that Saudi Arabia, which accounts for much of the region´s airspace, may join the war.
Several foreign governments, including Britain and Germany, are sending planes to Oman to evacuate their nationals, as a reduced number of commercial flights are operating out of UAE airports.
Many were heading out via Saudi Arabia, where airports are still operating, though obtaining visas for the kingdom is a challenge for some evacuees.
For those stranded on more modest incomes, the journey to safety is harder.
One British expat, who declined to be named, told AFP that securing a commercial flight out of Muscat had been extremely difficult for himself, his pregnant wife and three-year-old son.
“Prices are extremely high and seats are disappearing quickly while you are trying to book,” he said.
They eventually managed to nail down a flight to the Indian city of Hyderabad, from where they will fly on to Thailand.
