An Emirates A380 commercial flight carrying 404 passengers has departed Dubai Airport bound for Sydney, marking the first Australian flight from the Middle East since airspace closures began on Saturday. More than 9,700 flights in the Middle East have been cancelled this week, leaving thousands of Australians stranded across the region. The federal government is deploying six crisis response teams and working on emergency repatriation plans, with additional commercial flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi dependent on airspace safety conditions.

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