Al-Rayyan Airport in Mukalla resumes its international activities after 9 years of hiatus
English - Saturday 04 February 2023 الساعة 07:10 pm
Mukalla, NewsYemen, exclusive:
Al-Rayyan International Airport in the coastal city of Mukalla, the center of Hadramout Governorate, received, on Saturday, the first international flights coming from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after a 9-year hiatus.
The Yemenia flight arrived at the airport from Jeddah at 12 noon, with about 100 passengers on board, and will take off to Jeddah airport at 5:30 pm with 106 passengers on board.
The flight was received at Al-Rayyan International Airport, General Director of the airport, Eng. Anis Baswetain, and Walid Falhoum, Director of Yemen Airways for the Mukalla and Coast regions. On board the flight, Deputy Director General of Yemen Airways for Commercial Affairs Mohsen Haydara arrived, who inaugurated the resumption of international flights to and from the airport, which the United Arab Emirates contributed to equipping and rehabilitating over the past years after the liberation of the coast of Hadramout from the control of Al-Qaeda in April 2016.
Yemen Airways has adopted as the first stage a weekly flight every Saturday from Jeddah Airport to Al-Rayyan Airport.
The next stage includes opening the airport to airports in Cairo, the Emirates and other Arab and foreign countries.
The Governor of Hadramout, Mabkhout bin Madi, directed the leadership of Al-Rayyan Airport and the Yemenia office in Mukalla to take the necessary measures to ensure the success of the arrival of the flight and facilitate procedures for the arrival and departure of passengers, stressing the importance of the resumption of international flights to and from the airport, which is long-awaited for its restart.
The governor said that there are efforts being made by the leadership of the local authority in the governorate to resume the rest of the flights to relieve the citizens, explaining that there are efforts being made to resume the "Al-Rayyan-Cairo" and "Al-Rayyan-Dubai" flights, in the context of caring for the airport and restoring its pioneering and important navigational role.
The news of the resumption of operations of Al-Rayyan International Airport was very well received, not only by the people of Hadramout governorate, but also by the people of Shabwa and Al-Mahra governorates, who will be able to benefit from the airport to travel to their destinations abroad.
Although the airport was fully equipped by the brothers in the Emirates, since the announcement of its reopening in late November of the year 2019, the airport remained operating internal flights between the liberated governorates, until it was announced by the Governor of Hadramout in mid-January 2023 that international flights to and from the airport would resume.
The United Arab Emirates, as part of its humanitarian and development projects in Yemen, adopted an integrated project for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the airport after the liberation of the city of Mukalla and the coast of Hadramout from the control of Al-Qaeda in 2016. The brothers provided generous support for the reopening of the airport, starting with the rehabilitation of the buildings and facilities in it and the preparation of the runway and halls and provide it with modern equipment and supplies.
