Governments continue Egypt evacuation operations

Egypt's Cairo Airport remains in disarray according to media reports, with over 18,000 passengers inside the airport waiting to leave the country. Some airline and government responses include:

• 80 stranded Chinese in Egypt had left Cairo Airport early Tuesday and the rest of the 424 Chinese citizens would be brought back home later on the day, according to Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei (Shanghai Daily/IB Times, 02-Feb-2011). Aircraft used were from Air China and Hainan Airlines. China Southern has sent an aircraft to bring back 220 Hong Kong residents in Luxor (Xinhua, 02-Feb-2011).
• New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced 17 New Zealanders got out of the country on Tuesday and another 13 were expected to leave on Wednesday (Radio New Zealand, 02-Feb-2011). 299 New Zealanders were registered as being in Egypt;
• EgyptAir operated just 43 of 146 scheduled international and domestic services before the carrier shut down service with the onset of the curfew (The Associated Press, 02-Feb-2011). The airline has been cancelling about 75% of services for the past few days;
• Indonesia's government is sending a 450-seat B747 to evacuate Indonesian citizens in Cairo (Xinhua, 02-Feb-2011);
• Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the government has chartered a Thai Airways aircraft to bring back Thai nationals from Cairo (Xinhua, 02-Feb-2011);
• Austria's government has chartered an Austrian Airlines B737-800 to operate evacuation services (Xinhua, 02-Feb-2011);
• Saudi Arabia's government announced it has evacuated 14,000 Saudi nationals from Egypt. The Saudi Arabian King reportedly advised Egyptian Prime Minister Hosni Mubarak that conflict in the country is threatening the stability of the entire Middle East region;
• The British government will operate a charter flight from Cairo on 03-Feb to remove UK nationals, according to the Foreign Office website (Bloomberg, 02-Feb-2011). Each of the 200 seats on the Boeing 757 will cost GBP300.
• Air Canada announced (01-Feb-2011) it has operated a second Canadian government charter service for Canadians wishing to be evacuated from Egypt.