As more Middle Eastern airlines resume partial service, Hong Kong authorities are stepping up efforts to help the residents stranded by previous airspace closures return home during the upcoming weekend.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said on Friday that the city’s Economic and Trade Office in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, has been aiding stranded residents navigate their departures since the local airport partially reopened. Trade office employees are deployed at airports to facilitate orderly boarding passage, including for a nine-member Hong Kong tour group that departed Friday, officials said.

As of 8 am on Friday, Hong Kong’s immigration authorities had received about 780 inquiries from residents stranded in the Middle East amid the military conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran that has caused a drastic disruption to air traffic in the Persian Gulf region.

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About 200 people from Hong Kong have safely left the region, while the rest have confirmed reaching safe locations. The vast majority of inquiries — nearly 90 percent — came from those still in the UAE, official data show.

On Thursday evening, authorities said it have been urging Emirates, a major Middle Eastern carrier based in the UAE, to add more flights between Dubai and Hong Kong as soon as possible, while racing to secure seats on Saturday and Sunday flight departures for the safe evacuation of its residents, news reports said.

Emirates has resumed parts of its service starting Thursday, offering over 100 flights from the UAE to other destinations, including Hong Kong.

Etihad Airways, another UAE-based carrier, on Friday said it will begin to resume select services from Abu Dhabi to overseas cities, including Hong Kong.

Turkish Airlines has confirmed its Hong Kong routes are running normally despite the regional volatility. Responding to a China Daily query, a customer service employee of the Istanbul-based carrier said the team has logged “no issues or disruptions” to its flight service to Hong Kong.

A search of the airline’s official website shows seats available on Middle East-to-Hong Kong flights, on routes departing from major Persian Gulf cities such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE, and Doha in Qatar, though most require a transfer at Turkiye’s Istanbul Airport.

Scheduled flights for Doha-based Qatar Airways remain grounded following the closure of the country’s airspace. In its latest advisory, Friday afternoon, the carrier stated that operations will resume only after the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority issues a formal announcement confirming the airspace has been safely reopened.

Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand, Hanoi in Vietnam, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia are also among the destinations included in Etihad’s tentative recovery schedule — all of which offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival access for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport holders.

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Hong Kong legislator Tang Ka-piu told China Daily that one of his friends stranded in Dubai was caught in a “resigned” cycle — repeatedly booking flights to Hong Kong, only to watch them be canceled, leaving any return date uncertain.

Yet despite the setbacks, Tang said he saw a growing sense of confidence among those still waiting, buoyed by news that a considerable number of fellow Hong Kong travelers have successfully returned home.

Tang said his friend has felt that the SAR government’s extensive coordination and communication with local stakeholders has been a morale booster. “They’re confident they can return to Hong Kong as soon as possible,” he said.

Among the Hong Kong people who managed to return home on Friday was Martin Yeung, whose unexpected seven-day layover in Dubai had been chronicled in a social media post series he had named “Dubai stranded diary”.

Its final entry, posted Friday afternoon, featured footage of Yeung talking and walking down the boarding bridge for an Emirates flight that was expected to land in Hong Kong before 11 pm that day.

“Luckily, everything ended safely. I’ve received so many caring messages from friends in Hong Kong — it felt so very heartwarming, and I replied to every single one. … Heading home now, see you in Hong Kong!” Yeung said, and, with that, Yeung signed off from his weeklong homecoming odyssey.

Contact the writers at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com