Yemeni Airlines resumes flights to Saudi after hiatus

By Shukri Hussein

ADEN, Yemen (AA) – Yemeni Airlines resumed flights to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday -- after a year and a half hiatus -- with a flight from Yemen’s Aden airport to the Saudi city of Jeddah.

"A Yemeni Airlines airbus took 128 passengers to Jeddah on Wednesday afternoon for the first time since February of last year," a Yemeni Airlines source, speaking anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to media, told Anadolu Agency.

Last week, Yemen’s national carrier announced plans to resume weekly flights to Saudi Arabia every Wednesday.

In November of last year, President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi issued instructions limiting civilian air traffic from Yemen to Cairo and Jordanian capital Amman.

Yemen has been dogged by chaos since late 2014, when the Shia Houthi militia overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country, forcing Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

In March of last year, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive military campaign in Yemen aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and restoring Hadi’s embattled government.