Yemen’s Sanaa airport to resume operations in coming days

China

Yemen’s Sanaa airport to resume operations in coming days

2025-05-15 11:33 Last Updated At：16:57

Yemen's Sanaa International Airport will resume operations in the coming days, the airport's general manager said on Wednesday.

Operations of the airport have been suspended since May 6 when it was hit by 12 missiles in an Israeli airstrike against the Houthi group.

The airstrike severely damaged the airport's terminal, runway, and communications and navigation equipment, according to its general manager Khaled Al-Shaif.

Immediately after the airstrike, the airport activated an emergency plan, dividing airport staff into groups to repair facilities and enable backup devices to resume minimum operations as soon as possible, Khaled said.

"After the airport was destroyed, we faced a huge challenge, which was to restore the airport to a minimally operable state as there were people who were stranded outside the country and wanted to return home, people with critical illnesses who needed to go abroad for treatment, as well as UN staff, international students, and expatriates who needed flight services," he said.

Sanaa International Airport is the largest airport in Yemen and the only functional international airport in Houthi-controlled areas prior to the attack.

It once suspended all commercial flights from August 2016 to May 16, 2022 due to conflict.

"Before the airstrike, the airport was operating normally, with an average of two Yemenia Airways flights between Sanaa and Amman every day, and an average of one to three flights of the United Nations and other international organizations every day," Khaled said.

Shenzhou-23 astronauts board spaceship ahead of launch

The three astronauts of the Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceflight mission have boarded the spacecraft for a flight to China’s Tiangong space station.

The Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship is scheduled to blast off at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT) from northwest China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

The three Chinese astronauts, commander Zhu Yangzhu, spacecraft pilot Zhang Zhiyuan and payload specialist Lai Ka-ying, climbed aboard the spaceship with the help of technicians.

Following the launch, the astronauts will complete an in-orbit rotation with the outgoing Shenzhou-21 crew, and one of them will conduct a one-year in-orbit stay, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.

Notably, astronaut Lai Ka-ying is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program, and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.