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.
Yemen’s Sanaa airport to resume operations in coming days
Yemen’s Sanaa airport to resume operations in coming days
