Reviving the experience of 2014.. The reality of liberated airports exposes Houthi's cries to open Sana'a Airport
English - Sunday 27 August 2023 الساعة 05:36 pm
Sana'a, NewsYemen, exclusive:
Official statements revealed the refusal of foreign companies to operate their flights to liberated airports that are under the control of the legitimate government due to the war, in conjunction with the return of the Houthi group's demands to lift restrictions on Sana'a Airport, which is under the control of the group.
In an interview with Al-Ghad Al-Mashreq channel, the commercial director of Yemenia Airlines, Mohsen Ali Haydara, denied the accusations leveled against the company years ago of monopolizing flights to liberated airports, stressing that it is not responsible for granting permits to foreign airlines, but rather the General Authority of Civil Aviation affiliated to the Ministry of Transport.
Mohsen revealed the attempts of the Ministry of Transport to invite a number of foreign companies to operate their flights to the liberated airports. But it did not respond to that, for security reasons, the high cost of insurance, and the classification of Yemeni airports as high risk.
The commercial director of Yemenia explained that the fivefold increase in the cost of insurance fees compared to what it was before the war is one of the main reasons behind the increase in Yemenia tickets, stressing that the company currently pays insurance fees on each plane by about one million dollars, while these fees did not exceed Only 200 thousand dollars.
Citing the recent crisis suffered by Yemenis in the war in Sudan and the government's inability to evacuate them, he revealed that insurance companies demanded $168,000 for each flight to operate evacuation flights to Yemeni airports.
Mohsen revealed attempts by the company's leadership to restore the destinations and stations to which Yemenia's flights used to go, which reached 33 destinations, as he referred to negotiations and meetings currently taking place with the civil aviation authorities in the Gulf states.
Pointing out that the most important observations on the liberated airports relate to security aspects and inspections, especially in the Gulf countries, which stress that the security aspect be at the highest level, promising the existence of preliminary approval from the UAE.
This information and the facts provided by the Commercial Director of Yemenia Airways about the difficulties facing government attempts to revive the activity of liberated airports raises questions about the repeated demands by the Houthi group to lift the complete restrictions on Sana'a Airport, which is under its control.
The refusal of commercial companies to operate their flights to airports under the control of the legitimate government since 2015 AD until today, and the strict conditions imposed by countries on the security aspects of these airports, reveal the size of the difficulties that stand in the way of resuming the activity of Sana’a Airport, which is under a coup authority that is not internationally recognized and whose security measures cannot be trusted.
For about a year, the activity of Sana'a airport has been limited to operating weekly humanitarian flights to one destination, the Jordanian capital, Amman, based on the armistice agreement that was reached in April of last year, while the implementation of flights from the airport to Cairo airport in Egypt, as stipulated in the armistice agreement, has stalled.
Media reports say that the Egyptian authorities categorically refuse to operate flights from Sana'a Airport due to their security concerns and lack of confidence in the procedures of the Houthi group, in addition to their refusal to deal with passports issued by the group.
These facts confirm that the parties or countries that will accept to operate their flights to Sana’a Airport are those who have relations with the Houthi group, such as Iran and the countries that have influence over them, such as Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, which reveals that the group’s shouting in the name of Sana’a Airport only means reviving the scenes of 2014 and the air bridge it established. with Iran.
After the fall of Sanaa in the hands of the group in September 2014, it signed an agreement in the field of air transport with the aviation authorities in Iran to operate 14 flights per week, to transport experts and weapons in preparation - at that time - to invade the governorates of the Republic and control them by force in March 2015.
