SANAA: The first commercial flight out of Yemen's capital in six years was indefinitely postponed on Sunday, after failing to obtain permits from the coalition, the national carrier said.
Yemen's government blamed the Ansar Allah fighters for the postponement. The capital's airport was due to receive the commercial aircraft on Sunday morning, reviving hopes that the war-torn country could resume some normal operations.
A seven-year conflict pitting the government against Ansar Allah fighters has killed hundreds of thousands of people and pushed the country to the brink of famine. UN special envoy Hans Grundberg voiced concern and called on the warring parties to work with his office "to find a solution that allows the flights to resume as planned."
A renewable two-month truce that went into effect in early April "is meant to benefit civilians including through reducing violence, making fuel available, and improving their freedom of movement to, from and within their country," Grundberg said.
The plane, operated by national carrier Yemenia, was expected to take off from the government-controlled southern port city of Aden, stop off in Sanaa, and transport passengers in need of medical treatment to Jordan's capital Amman. But hours before the flight, the airline said "it has not yet received operating permits".
Yemenia said it hoped "all problems will be overcome in the near future", without specifying a date. There was no immediate reaction from the military coalition that controls Yemen's airspace.
But Yemen's Information Minister Moammar al Eryani said the Ansar Allah were responsible for the flight being scrapped, Yemen's official Saba news agency reported. Eryani accused the Ansar Allah of trying to take advantage of the flights to "smuggle" members of Lebanese group Hizbullah onto the plane using "fake names and forged documents."
While the government had approved 104 passengers, the Ansar Allah "refused" and insisted on adding 60 more "passengers with unreliable passports", he added.
In Sanaa, airport director Khaled al Shayef said the passports issue was a "baseless justification" for barring the flight.
The deputy head of civil aviation Raed Talib Jabal said the coalition's refusal to allow Sunday's flight was "a violation of the truce".
"The coalition insists that the Yemeni people remain in a large prison," he added. - AFP
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