Sanaa launches moves to re-open airport to international flights

SANAA, Aug. 18 (YPA) – In light of the complete closure of Sanaa International Airport to flights and after Israeli aircraft targeted Yemenia Airlines planes, the Sanaa-based government is moving to find alternatives to re-operate the airport to commercial flights.

In this context, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jamal Amer, affirmed, in a meeting on Sunday with the Minister of Transport and Public Works, Mohammed Quhim, that the continued closure of Sanaa International Airport to the Yemeni people and its right to travel abroad and return to their country is unacceptable.

Amer specifically criticized the negative and weak role of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, in addressing the suffering of the Yemeni people.

He pointed to the absurd use of Grundberg’s special plane on a weekly basis, while refusing to transport critical humanitarian cases, resulting in two deaths, and refusing to repatriate some Yemenis stranded abroad.

Minister Amer called on the international community and countries in the region to cooperate seriously with the Sanaa government to fully restore the airport to operation without any restrictions.

For his part, Quhim explained that Sanaa Airport was technically capable of receiving civilian passenger aircraft, stressing that specialists and technicians at the General Authority of Civil Aviation had worked to ensure the airport’s continued operation and maintenance despite the terrorist attacks it had been subjected to by the Israeli enemy.

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