Four-times weekly flights to Yemen's capital
Dubai's low-cost airline flydubai has launched four-times weekly flights to Sana'a, capital of Yemen.
flydubai's inaugural flight, FZ091, departed Dubai Airport Terminal 2 at 0700hrs on Monday morning, landing at El Rahaba Airport in Sana'a at 0840hrs local time.
A delegation of Yemen state officials, including the Minister of Transport Dr Waed Abdulla Batheeb and Chairman of Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority Hamed Faraj joined flydubai's Chief Commercial Officer Hamad Obaidalla accompanied by Abdulla Matar Al Mazroui, UAE's Ambassador to Yemen to celebrate the occasion.
flydubai's CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said: "With the addition of Sana'a, we now fly to 20 destinations in 11 countries in the Middle East. flydubai hopes that this new service will play a significant role in developing business opportunities and open the door to more exports between the two nations."
Inaugurating Monday's flight, Obaidalla said: "At flydubai, we aim to connect Dubai to destinations that have previously been under-served by links to the UAE."
Yemen's Minister of Transport, Dr. Waed Abdulla Batheeb, welcomed flydubai's first flight to Sana'a, commenting: "We are confident that flydubai's direct flights to our capital create new areas of collaboration in the future."
flydubai now also offers cargo services between the two cities through its recently-launched division, flydubai Cargo. Perishables are likely to be the main consignment.
Yemen's largest city, Sana'a is the country's political and administrative capital and most important cultural centre. Declared by Unesco as a World Heritage Site in 1986, Sana'a is well known for its unique architecture that dates back over 2,000 years.
© Emirates 24|7 2012
