Yemen flights remain grounded after coalition withholds permits: Yemenia

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen failed to provide a licence for Yemen’s national airliner to resume international flights on Sunday, despite promising to ease the controversial blockade.

Flights by national carrier Yemenia to the pro-Saudi government-held cities of Aden and Seiyoun were expected to take-off on Sunday after Yemen’s Transport Minister Mourad al-Halimi said the coalition would allow the airports to reopen earlier this week.

But the airline said it has yet to receive the permit to resume international commercial flights flying in and out of the war-torn country on Sunday.

In a Facebook statement posted on Sunday, Yemenia Airways issued a “public apology” for the delay in resuming flights, which it blamed on the Saudi-led coalition.

“We would like to inform the public that we had made all the arrangements…after continuous communication with the relevant authorities,” the statement read.

“We declare with great regret that we did not receive the travel permits for flights on Sunday 12 of November.” 

On Monday, the coalition shut down Yemen's land, air and sea in response to a missile attack by Houthi rebels that was intercepted near Riyadh airport.

After an outcry from the United Nations, the coalition on Wednesday reopened Aden, which is controlled by pro-Saudi government forces, and on Thursday opened the land crossing at Wadea on the Saudi-Yemen border.

But the UN slammed the move as “not enough” to provide desperately-needed UN aid deliveries to Yemen.

"Humanitarian movements into Yemen remain blocked," said Russell Geekie, spokesman for the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian aid OCHA.

"The reopening of the port in Aden is not enough. We need to see the blockade of all the ports lifted, especially Hodeida, for both humanitarians and for commercial imports."

Meanwhile, the sea port at Hodeida, which is in rebel-held territory, is key to UN aid efforts as it is closest to the majority of people in need.

The coalition accuses rebels, who are allied with the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, of using aid shipments to smuggle in weapons.

Before the blockade, UN aid agencies were delivering food and medicine through Hodeida, Saleef and Aden ports.

"There can be no alternative for all these ports being fully functional and receiving commercial and humanitarian cargo," said the spokesman.

The United Nations has listed Yemen as the world's number one humanitarian crisis, with 17 million people in need of food, seven million of whom are at risk of famine. 

More than 2,000 Yemenis have died in a cholera outbreak now affecting nearly one million people.

Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in neighbouring Yemen in March 2015 to push back the rebels who control the capital Sanaa, in an attempt to restore the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to power.

But the military intervention, which has triggered widespread criticism from the international community, has left more than 10,000 people, most of which civilians, dead.