The South China Morning Post learned that officials had also weighed the option of repatriation flights from Oman, but the absence of direct Cathay services made the route “impractical” because there was no guarantee of obtaining aviation clearance in a short period of time.

As the US-Israel war against Iran stretched into a week, more Hongkongers returned from Dubai on a commercial flight on Friday evening, including the Hong Kong women’s football team with 27 players and a nine-member tour group, after the region’s busiest aviation hub resumed limited operations.

But at least hundreds more residents remained stranded in Gulf countries, with some calling for government-chartered flights as nation including the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany tried to organise repatriations.

The Immigration Department said on Thursday that 200 out of 730 people who had contacted the government had left the region, adding authorities had been trying to reserve seats for residents on weekend flights leaving Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

On Friday, two sources said officials had discussed with Cathay, the city’s flag carrier, the possibility of sending planes, as was done in previous emergency operations.