Sanaa: Yemen’s national airline Yemenia announced on Thursday the reopening of Sanaa International Airport controlled by the Houthi militia from Sunday.
These will be the first commercial flights from the Yemeni capital, nearly six years after it closed to commercial flights.
The first flight would take off from the Sana’a International Airport to the Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan on Sunday, April 24, at 8 am.
Since 2016, the Saudi-led Arab coalition has halted air navigation at Sanaa airport with the exception of humanitarian flights belonging to the UN and other international organisations.
“Good news for all travellers. Yemenia Airways announces one flight per week from Sanaa to Amman and back, beginning on April 24,” the airline wrote on its Instagram page, on Thursday.
The news was greeted with excitement and optimism by Yemenis and members of the international community.
UN special envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg welcomes the news.
“Congratulations to all Yemenis for this much-needed and long-awaited step,” Grundberg said.
“I’ll continue to work with the parties to ensure all the elements of the truce are upheld, and to build on its momentum towards a sustainable political solution to the conflict,” Grundberg added.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Affairs, Dr Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak on his official account on Twitter said, “On my behalf and on behalf of the Yemeni government, I thank the government of the sisterly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for facilitating the granting of permits to operate Yemeni Airlines flights between Sanaa and Amman during the two-month period of the armistice and starting next Sunday.”
On Friday, April 1, the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced that the parties to the conflict have agreed to a two-month, extendable truce, which began on Saturday evening, April 2.
The parties accepted to halt all offensive military air, ground, and maritime operations inside Yemen and across its borders. They also agreed for fuel ships to enter Hudaydah ports and commercial flights to operate in and out of Sana’a airport, to predetermined destinations in the region.
The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, with the aim of restoring the government, but the conflict has long been mired in a deadlock.
Tens of thousands of civilians have died as a result of the conflict, which according to the UN has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
