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First flight arrives at Sana'a airport

Monday, 16 May 2022 3:29 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 16 May 2022 3:29 PM ]

Abdullatif Al-washali
Press TV, Sana'a

The first commercial flight has landed at Sana'a International Airport almost seven years after the Saudi-led coalition forced the facility to shut down its ordinary air travel.

The opening takes place six weeks behind the schedule after a UN-brokered ceasefire was enforced in early April. This is due to repeated delays by the Saudi-led coalition, under different pretexts.

Officials say thousands of patients are in dire need to travel abroad for treatment. Keeping the airport closed has pushed many Yemeni patients, desperate to seek medical treatment abroad, to the brink, amid their critical health conditions.

Under the two-month truce that was brokered by the United Nations at the beginning of April, there should be two flights from Egypt and Jordan, and back there, every week. However, the truce will end in two weeks and the terms of the armistice have not yet been implemented.

People here hope that the UN-brokered truce will be extended and that Sana’a International Airport will always be open to humanitarian flights, as it is a humanitarian necessity to save the lives of thousands of patients, including children, who are waiting for their chance to travel abroad for treatment.

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Yemen