Yemenia dates its origins back to Yemen Airlines,[5] a company that was founded in the second half of the 1940s[6] and owned by
Ahmad bin Yahya, then
King of Yemen.[7] When the
Yemen Arab Republic was proclaimed in 1962, Yemen Airlines was issued a new
airline licence on 4 August of that year (which remains valid until today), thus becoming the
flag carrier of the country, with its head office in the Ministry of Communication Building in Sana'a.[7] In 1967, the airline entered a co-operation with
United Arab Airlines, which lasted until 1972. During that period, it was known as Yemen Arab Airlines.[5]
In September 1972 and following
nationalisation Yemen Airlines was reorganised and renamed Yemen Airways Corporation (YAC).[8] At March 1975 YAC had 60 employees; the airline's fleet consisted of four
DC-6Bs and four
DC-3s that served domestic destinations and an international network that included
Asmara,
Cairo,
Djibouti,
Dhahran,
Jeddah and
Kuwait.[9] On lease from
World Airways, YAC operated a pair of
Boeing 737-200 aircraft for two and a half years until the carrier ordered an aircraft of the type in mid-1976.[10] In early 1977, a new airline was jointly established by the governments of the Yemen Arab Republic and
Saudi Arabia, with both countries holding 51% and 49% of the shares, respectively, and the name Yemen Airways was adopted on 1 July 1978.[8] In April 1978, a two-year contract for the provision of two
Boeing 707-320Cs that included the supply of aircrews and engineering support was signed with
British Midland Airways (BMA).[11] In July 1979, the carrier signed a three-year agreement with
Pan Am for the provision of technical maintenance and personal training.[8][12] Two
de Havilland Canada Dash 7s were ordered.[13] The unilateral cancellation of the contract signed with BMA by Yemen Airways led the British carrier to file a claim against the Yemeni airline, which resulted in the impoundment of one of its
Boeing 727-200s.[11]
At July 1980 the workforce was 750 and chairmanship was held by Shaif M. Saeed. By this time, five Boeing 727-200s, two Boeing 737-200s, one
Douglas DC-6A and three DC-3s made up the airline's fleet. Domestic scheduled passenger services linked
Sana'a with
Baydhan,
Hodeida,
Mareb and
Taiz;
Abu Dhabi,
Athens, Cairo,
Damascus, Dhahran,
Dubai, Jeddah,
Karachi, Kuwait,
Muscat,
Rome and
Sharjah were part of the international network. Cargo services were also undertaken.[8] The two
Dash 7s were part of the fleet by March 1985, along with five Boeing 727-200s and one Boeing 737-200, and the airline had expanded its route network to include
Amsterdam,
Bombay,
Frankfurt,
Larnaca and
London-Gatwick. The number of employees had grown to 1,100.[14]
When
South Yemen was united with the Yemen Arab Republic to form today's
Yemen in 1990,[15] plans were made to form a single national airline by merging South Yemen's
Alyemda into Yemenia.[citation needed] To achieve this, the shares held by Saudi Arabia were bought back by the government of Yemen in 1992.[5] The merger took place in 1996.[16]
Yemenia became an
Airbus A310 operator in 1995 with two leased A310-200s;[17] the introduction of the Airbus A310-300 followed in March 1997.[18]
Since 2008, a number of safety actions by the
European Union have been taken against Yemenia because of alleged poor maintenance standards in Yemen. In July 2009,
France suspended the
airworthiness certificates of two Yemenia
Airbus A310 aircraft that were
registered in the country.[22] European services to
Frankfurt were relaunched in December 2009.[23] Since then, systematic inspections of Yemenia aircraft parked at EU airports are carried out, in order to assess and verify the safety standards.[22] On 20 January 2010, then British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown announced that, owing to concerns of terrorist activity in Yemen, flights between the UK and the country would be suspended, as long as the security situation would not improve.[24]
2015–onwards
In March 2015, Yemenia was forced to suspend all flight operations until further notice due both to a
military conflict that had
Sanaʽa International Airport as a target of air raids and to restrictions over the Yemeni airspace.[25][26][27] In August 2015, Yemenia reinstated flights to
Aden International Airport, with the first flight originating from Saudi Arabia.[28] The blockade was reinstated on 21 February 2016,[29] and lifted on 14 November 2017, when the first commercial flight touched down at Aden International Airport.[4][30] Flights were cancelled once again, this time for less than a week, resuming on 1 February 2018.[31][32] 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.[33] However, there has not been any addition to the destinations of Yemenia airlines (
Cairo,
Amman,
Jeddah,
Khartum and
Mumbai).[34]
In May 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Yemen, Yemenia operated repatriation flights to Egypt, Jordan, and India.[35][36] The airline received $1.15 million in compensation.[37] In June 2020, Chairman Ahmed Masood Alwani announced that the airline's two Airbus A310s would be phased out.[38]
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.[39]
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-heldSanaa 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.[40]
Corporate affairs
Headquarters
The head office is located in the Hassaba District, in Downtown
Sanaʽa, however the building was destroyed by fire during fighting in May 2011.[41][42][43] On 3 June the same year, during the
2011 Yemeni revolution, the building was again set on fire.[citation needed]
In 2008, during the
Dubai Air Show, the carrier signed a contract for the purchase of ten
Airbus A350-800s.[47][48] The order was subsequently altered to include the larger
-900 version.[49] In November 2009 (2009-11), Yemenia signed a
memorandum of understanding with
Airbus for
USD 700 million that covered ten
Airbus A320s;[50] the order was firmed up in January 2010 (2010-01).[51][52] The first Airbus A320 joined the fleet in April 2011 (2011-04).[53] The A320 order was later restructured and four of them were converted to the
A320neo.[54]
Historical fleet
Over the years, the airline has operated the following aircraft types:[5][55]
Yemenia has experienced the following incidents and accidents including three hijackings:
On 3 November 1958, a Yemen Airlines (as the company was named at that time)
Douglas C-47 Skytrain (
registered YE-AAB) crashed near
Poggiodomo in Italy, killing the eight people on board. The aircraft had been on a flight from
Rome Ciampino Airport to Yemen with a planned stopover at
Belgrade, carrying the Yemenite Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs.[57]
On 19 March 1969, a Yemen Airlines C-47 (registered 4W-AAS) crashed near
Ta'izz during a post-maintenance test flight, killing the four occupants. It turned out that the
elevator of the aircraft did not work properly. Repair work had been done on that part, because it had been damaged some days earlier in a ground collision.[58]
On 16 September 1971, another Yemen Airlines C-47 (registered 4W-ABI) crashed near
Rajince,
Serbia when it encountered severe
icing conditions, killing the five people on board. The aircraft had been on a multi-stopover flight from Yemen to Europe and had just departed
Belgrade Airport.[59]
On 1 November 1972, a Yemen Airlines
Douglas DC-3 (registered 4W-ABJ) was destroyed in a crash-landing at an airfield near
Beihan.[60]
On 25 August 1973, a Yemen Airlines
Douglas DC-6 was hijacked during a passenger flight from Ta'izz to
Asmara. The perpetrator forced the pilots to divert the aircraft with fifteen other passengers and six crew members on board to
Kuwait Airport, for which a refueling stop at
Djibouti Airport turned out to be necessary. In Kuwait, the hijacker surrendered to local police forces.[61]
On 13 December 1973, a Yemen Airlines DC-3 (registered 4W-ABR) crashed near Ta'izz.[62]
On 23 February 1975, a Yemen Airlines DC-3 was hijacked during a flight from
Al Hudaydah to Sana'a and forced to land at an airport in
Saudi Arabia. There, the aircraft was stormed and the perpetrator overpowered.[63]
On 14 November 1978, a Yemen Airlines C-47 (registered 4W-ABY) was damaged beyond repair in a heavy landing at an airfield near
Ma'rib.[64]
On 1 August 2001, a
Boeing 727-200 (registered 7O-ACW) was damaged beyond economic repair when it overran the runway upon landing at
Asmara International Airport following a flight from Sana'a with 107 passengers and four crew on board, none of whom were significantly injured.[65][68]
On 23 June 2007, a DHC-6 Twin Otter was damaged by gunfire at An Naeem Airstrip, killing one passenger.[69]
The company's worst accident occurred on 30 June 2009, when
Yemenia Flight 626 from Sana'a to
Moroni, Comoros crashed into the sea shortly before landing. Of the 142 passengers and eleven crew that had been on the
Airbus A310-300 with the
registration 7O-ADJ, only a
young girl survived the accident.[70]
In March 2015, a
Boeing 747SP (registered 7O-YMN) which was operated in Yemenia branding for the government of Yemen was damaged by gunfire during a militia attack at Aden airport. A subsequent blaze destroyed the aircraft completely.[71]