Governments announce plans to evacuate citizens from Cairo

Governments around the world announced steps on Monday 31-Jan-2011 to evacuate citizens from Egypt on chartered or scheduled flights as violent unrest continues across the country (Reuters/Xinhua/AFP, 31-Jan-2011). Some responses include:

• Austria annoucned it plans to evacuate 300-400 of its estimated 3000 citizens in Egypt. An Austrian Airlines aircraft returned Monday 31-Jan-2011 carrying Austrian nationals. A 55-seat chartered army aircraft will also carry citizens to Vienna;
• Lufthansa has two 350-seat aircraft operating to Egypt;
• Bulgaria advised its citizens to refrain from travelling to Egypt. The government believes 300 Bulgarian citizens are currently in Egypt;
• Air China and Hainan Airlines announced plans to send a chartered flight to Cairo on Monday 31-Jan-2011 to evacuate Chinese citizens. The government believes there are at least 500 Chinese nationals at Cairo International Airport;
• Finland's foreign ministry announced it would send an aircraft to evacuate Finns travelling or living in Egypt;
• Germany issued a travel warning, identifying Cairo, Alexandria and Suez as destinations to avoid. It stated resorts on the Red Sea remain calm for the moment;
• Europe's largest tour operators TUI AG and Thomas Cook stated they were cancelling services to Luxor and had suspended day trips to Cairo from Red Sea resorts;
• Japan estimates 500 Japanese citizens are at Cairo International Airport and the government has chartered an aircraft to return them to Tokyo;
• Portugal has sent an aircraft to evacuate Portuguese citizens who would prefer to leave Egypt;
• Spain has not yet started evacuation measures but is advising nationals not to travel to Egypt;
• Turkey stated 1548 Turks have been brought back from Egypt. A total of 1114 have been evacuated from Alexandria and Cairo and another 434 have returned on scheduled flights in the last three days;
• The US Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Janice Jacobs announced the first US Government-chartered service departed Cairo on Monday with 42 Americans on board. She said 2400 US citizens had asked for help getting out. Jacobs said she expects more of the 52,000 Americans registered with the embassy in Cairo to seek help leaving;
• Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan directed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to immediately evacuate Nigerians in Cairo Airport. The government believes 200 Nigerian citizens are at Cairo Airport;
• New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade upgraded its travel warning to Egypt, advising New Zealanders against all travel to the country. Prime Minister John Key said he was not looking at evacuating New Zealanders in Egypt;
• Cyprus announced said more than 19 chartered services evacuating Canadian, American, German, Dutch, Chinese and British citizens were expected to arrive on the eastern Mediterranean island in the afternoon;
• Denmark's Foreign Ministry heightened its travel alerts to Egypt an now warns against all non-essential travel to the country, including the tourist areas along the Red Sea;
• Australia's government announced it would charter a Qantas B747 to get Australian citizens out of Cairo, with the service to operate to London or Frankfurt. Prime Minister Julia Gillard added that following the government's advice, many Australians have already left the country.