Information for Air China flight CA790 from Riyadh to Beijing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on March 6, 2026 Photo: Courtesy of Vesper Yang

"CA9542 is already waiting for takeoff." For Chinese traveler Wang, sending out this message marked a moment of relief after days of uncertainty, as her return ticket had already been canceled four times, forcing her to repeatedly refund and repurchase tickets after being stranded in Dubai.

Shortly after receiving Wang's message, the Global Times reporter saw on a flight tracking app that flight CA9542 has departed Dubai for Beijing at 12:39 pm on Sunday.

As the joint US-Israeli military operation against Iran continues, many Chinese tourists stranded in the Middle East are waiting for opportunities to return home. According to the China News Service, the latest update from Emirates Airlines shows the carrier was arranging limited flights to Hangzhou and Shenzhen on Sunday. 

Such flights are hard to come by. Another Chinese traveler, going by the online handle @MoXiangwang, who was also flying directly from Dubai to China on Sunday told the Global Times that while he was waiting for the flight to take off, he received a mobile alert warning while his plane was taxiing for departure at 11:01 am. The alert was lifted about 10 minutes later, and the aircraft finally took off safely.

In response to the situation, Chinese authorities have accelerated coordination of emergency transportation. According to a notice released on Sunday by the WeChat account affiliated with the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Chinese authorities have been working intensively in recent days to coordinate emergency flights to help stranded Chinese passengers in the Middle East to return home.

Among the flights that still had available seats, the notice said, were CA9542 - the flight Wang boarded - as well as several China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines flights scheduled to depart from Dubai on Monday, along with flights departing from Riyadh and Jeddah. The Center for Consular Assistance and Protection advised stranded Chinese travelers in the Middle East to seize the opportunity to return home via these flights.

"Our embassies and consulates in Iran and other Gulf states are working hard to ensure the evacuation and safety of Chinese nationals," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a press conference on Sunday on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China when elaborating Foreign Ministry's measures on the diplomatic work serving the people. 

"Let me put it this way: Where there is the Chinese flag flying, there are Chinese diplomats on duty; where there is want or need from Chinese compatriots, there is heart-warming care of the Party and the government," Wang Yi said.

Vesper Yang, a Chinese tourist who arrived in Guangzhou on Saturday after leaving Riyadh two days earlier on Air China flight CA790, told the Global Times that the journey felt like "a thousand-mile dash and a ten-thousand-mile journey home," adding that it made her realize "there's no place like home."

According to Yang, a group of 21 Chinese tourists stranded in Kuwait traveled together by bus for 14 hours overland to Riyadh on Thursday, where they soon received notification of available Air China flights and were able to secure tickets back to China.

So far, 17 of the 21 travelers have returned to China, while the remaining four have boarded flights from Riyadh airport earlier on Sunday morning, Yang said.

 "Until the very last moment when the plane takes off, you really don't know whether the evacuation has been confirmed and whether you're truly on your way home," Yang said.

Wang Yi delivered a message to all Chinese abroad: While you may be facing a world of chaos and turbulence, you have behind you a motherland as firm as a rock. We will, as always, put our people first, further strengthen overseas security protection capabilities, and build a security risk prevention system that covers the entire globe, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.