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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

First Yemeni Flight Departs Sanaa to Amman

16 May 2022, Yemen, Sanaa: A Yemen Airways plane is welcomed with a water salute at the Sanaa international airport. (dpa)

The first commercial flight in six years took off from Yemen’s Sanaa on Monday as part of the two-month nationwide truce.

The flight by national carrier Yemenia - also known as Yemen Airways - was bound for Jordan’s capital of Amman. It had 126 passengers on board.

Today's flight was scheduled for weeks earlier but disputes over passports issued by the Iran-backed Houthi militias, who control Sanaa, had delayed it.

The government refuses to recognize passports that are not issued by legitimate authorities.

The flight was able to take off following efforts by the UN envoy, with the support of the Saudi-led Arab coalition and great facilitations provided by the government.

The government-run SABA news agency said last week that new Yemeni passports would be issued in Jordan for those arriving with Houthi-issued travel documents.

The return flight from Amman is scheduled for later on Monday.

For Wednesday, Yemen Airways announced another flight from Sanaa to Amman and a return one to the Yemeni capital.

The truce accord calls for two commercial flights a week to and from Sanaa to Jordan and Egypt.

The UN envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, hailed what he described as "constructive cooperation” of the Yemeni government.

"This should be a moment of coming together to do more, to start repairing what the war has broken," he said in a statement. He urged both parties to implement all truce commitments and "move towards resuming a political process to sustainably end the conflict."

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