Riyan International Airport (also known as Riyan Mukalla International Airport) is an airport in
Mukalla
Mukalla ( ar, ٱلْمُكَلَّا, ') is a seaport and the capital city of Yemen's largest governorate, Hadhramaut. The city is in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula on the Gulf of Aden, on the shores of the Arabian Sea, about east o ...
,
Hadhramaut
Hadhramaut ( ar, حَضْرَمَوْتُ \ حَضْرَمُوتُ, Ḥaḍramawt / Ḥaḍramūt; Hadramautic: 𐩢𐩳𐩧𐩣𐩩, ''Ḥḍrmt'') is a region in South Arabia, comprising eastern Yemen, parts of western Oman and southern Saud ...
,
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
. It is not to be confused with the former RAF Riyan, which is located closer to Mukalla.
History
The original airport was built around the 1930s.
Flights were suspended in March 2015 as a result of the Yemeni civil war which led Al Qaeda militants to take advantage of the turmoil and control Mukalla. A no-fly zone over Yemen was imposed by the
Saudi Arabian-led intervention due to the military conflict. Mukalla was later
liberated from Al Qaeda, but the airport remained closed until the Emirates Red Crescent funded the building of new terminals and renovated the old airport at a cost of AED 25 million. On November 27, 2019, the airport was reopened with the support of the
Emirates Red Crescent. The Governor of Hadramawt province, Maj Gen Faraj Al Bahsani, said he was optimistic that the return of flights would bring economic benefits.
On the 9th of April 2021,
Yemenia
Yemenia ( ar, اليمنية) is the flag carrier airline of Yemen, based in Sanaa. It operates scheduled domestic and international passenger flights to destinations in Africa and the Middle East out of its hubs at Aden International Airport, ...
restarted flights to Socotra and Aden.
Airlines and destinations
References
Airports in Yemen
Mukalla
{{Yemen-airport-stub