A plane landed Sunday at the airport in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, officials said, the first commercial flight to arrive since the deadly missile attack last week on the facility that killed at least 25 people and wounded 110 others.
The attack Wednesday took place just moments after a plane carrying members of Yemen's Cabinet landed on a flight from the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.
Three precision-guided missiles that struck the airport targeted the plane carrying the Cabinet members, the arrival hall and the airport's VIP lounge, according to Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed.
On Sunday, the airport received a Yemenia airline flight arriving from Sudan’s capital Khartoum, according to Yemen's state-run SABA news agency.
Yemeni Interior Minister Ibrahim Haidan and Aden Gov. Ahmed Lamlas were at the airport to receive the flight, the report said, according to The Associated Press.
Haidan said the speedy reopening of the airport has underscored “the determination of the government to overcome obstacles and face the difficulties” caused by Wednesday’s attack.
The attack killed at least 25 people, including three workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross, and wounded 110 others.
The Yemeni ministers were returning to Aden from Riyadh after being sworn in last week as part of a Cabinet reshuffle. The Cabinet reshuffle was part of a power-sharing deal between the legitimate government and the Southern Transitional Council.
In this context, the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY) formed a team to assess the damage to the Aden airport.
The SDRPY was coordinating efforts with the legitimate Yemeni government, local authorities and the airport administration. It also sent an engineering team that included contractors, consultants and technical experts.
