Yemen’s Transport Ministry said two missiles landed around Aden airport on Oct. 16, prompting the evacuation of a Cairo-bound Yemenia flight and putting a route used by patients seeking overseas treatment at risk.
Accounts of the Oct. 16 airport incident differed on where the missiles landed. Aden security officials placed both impacts inside airport grounds, while the ministry described them as around the airport. Security officials reported no deaths in their initial assessment.
Al Jazeera reported Oct. 20 that Sana’a had no regular outbound flights. Patients in northern Yemen seeking care abroad may therefore face a road journey across front lines to reach flights from Aden. The transport ministry said disruption there can affect travel for medical treatment.
The Health Cluster, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), estimated that 19.3 million people needed health assistance as of June 2026. Its response was 17% funded at that time.
In a separate account published by Al Jazeera, Mohammed Abdullah described the cost of trying to reach care before the October missile incident. He said his family raised about $2,300 to take his brother, Abdulkarim Abdullah, from Sana’a toward Aden and a flight abroad for kidney treatment. Abdulkarim died on the road in January before reaching the airport, his brother said.
United Nations (U.N.) Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg told the Security Council on Oct. 9 that Yemen had returned to full-scale war, with fighting on several fronts.
A U.N.-mediated truce allowed commercial service from Sana’a to Amman to resume in 2022 after almost six years, the envoy’s office said. The U.N. said a strike in May 2025 destroyed a Yemenia civilian aircraft at Sana’a airport, reducing options for people traveling for medical care. It reported further airstrikes at the airport in July 2026; Yemen’s government said those strikes hit the runway.
Flight access also depends on government permission. In August, the U.N. Security Council said flights to Yemeni airports require prior authorization from the country’s internationally recognized government. It called for safe air access for civilian and humanitarian needs.
