2015–onwards
In March 2015, Yemenia was forced to suspend all flight operations until further notice due both to a military conflict that had Sanaa International Airport as a target of air raids and to restrictions over the Yemeni airspace. In August 2015, Yemenia resumed flights to Aden International Airport, with the first flight originating from Saudi Arabia.[10] The blockade was reinstated on 21 February 2016, and lifted on 14 November 2017, when the first commercial flight touched down at Aden International Airport.[11] Flights were cancelled once again, this time for less than a week, resuming on 1 February 2018.[12] According to The National newspaper, in November 2018 Yemenia announced that they would be seeking to resume flights from Aden International Airport to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Salalah in the Persian Gulf and Asmara, Moroni, and Djibouti in Africa, as well as leasing more aircraft.[13] However, there has not been any addition to the destinations of Yemenia airlines (Cairo, Amman, Jeddah, Khartum and Mumbai).[14]
In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Yemen, Yemenia operated repatriation flights to Egypt, Jordan, and India.[15][16] The airline received $1.15 million in compensation.[17] In June 2020, Chairman Ahmed Masood Alwani announced that the airline's two Airbus A310s would be phased out.[18]
On 16 May 2022, Yemenia resumed limited commercial operations out of Sanaa International Airport, its former main hub. The first Yemenia flight carried 151 passengers to the Jordanian capital Amman.[19]
On 17 June 2023, the first direct flight between Yemen and Saudi Arabia in nearly seven years has taken more than 270 Yemenis from rebel-held Sanaa to Jeddah, signaling easing tensions between the two countries. The flight by Yemenia carried Yemeni Muslims embarking on the annual Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj in the Saudi city of Mecca.[20]
On June 2024, a thousand of Yemeni Hajj pilgrims were stranded in Saudi Arabia after the Houthis seized four out of the seven Yemenia aircraft and took control of Yemania repair facilities in Sanaa,[21] preventing them from returning to Jeddah airport to carry the pilgrims home.[22]
On July 28, 2024, it was announced that Yemenia would resume flights from Sanaa International Airport to Egypt and India in the following week.[23]
During the Gaza War, the Houthis launched multiple missile attacks against Israeli territory, and hijacked the international shipping industry in the Red Sea, deepening the Red Sea crisis. As a result of this confrontation, Israel intensified its aerial campaign against the Houthis, launching airstrikes on the Sanaa International Airport and destroying all four operational planes of Yemenia in May 2025.[24]
