Yemen: Riyan International Airport reopens after 5 years

Cairo: Yemeni authorities have reopened the country’s third biggest airport after a halt of nearly five years. A domestic flight from the state carrier Yemen Airways (Yemenia) Friday marked the reopening of the Riyan International Airport in the governorate of Hadhramaut.

Dima Abdul Qawi, the air transport official at the Yemeni Transport Ministry, said that the airport reopening and the airline’s launch of domestic flights at the facility marked an important step in developing the country’s transport sector including the upgrade of the Aden International Airport in the provisional Yemeni capital under an agreement between the Yemeni Transport Minister and the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Programme for Yemen.

Marking the occasion, Governor of Hadhramaut Faraj Salamin expressed appreciation to the UAE and Saudi Arabia for support to the reopening of the Riyan airport.

Yemen has been devastated by a war that erupted after the Iran-aligned Al Houthi militia toppled the legitimate government and seized swathes of the impoverished country including Sana’a in late 2014.