Sana’a Airport documents reveal: The Saudi siege strangled navigation to less than 3% of its normal capacity

Sana’a – Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni:

Documents from Sana’a International Airport have revealed the scale of the systematic destruction inflicted on air navigation at the airport due to the Saudi siege imposed on Yemen for 12 years.

The documents, obtained by Al-Masirah TV in a special report, showed that movement at Sana’a International Airport during the years of aggression and siege constitutes only 2 to 3% of the airport’s normal movement before the aggression, an unprecedented collapse of aviation services in Yemen.

According to statistics, Sana’a International Airport used to receive more than 2.5 million passengers annually before the aggression, while the number of passengers during the years of the siege did not exceed 50,000 passengers, at best during the de-escalation period. The airport also recorded more than 50,000 annual flights before the aggression, while flights during the years of the siege did not exceed 1,782 flights.

In a massive contraction of air transport movement, the airport operated commercial flights to more than 20 international destinations via more than 15 airlines. However, it has been reduced to a mere transit point for one destination and a single airline, after the Saudi siege machine turned it into an aerial prison, compounding the suffering of millions of Yemenis.

These statistics come as the Saudi coalition continues to close Sana’a International Airport, despite warnings from human rights and humanitarian organizations, which affirm that the continuation of the air siege deprives millions of patients, students, and travelers of their fundamental rights to movement and treatment, a systematic humanitarian crime that ignores the most basic rules of international humanitarian law.