Transport Ministry: Over $13.4 billion losses in sector due to aggression, blockade

The Ministry of Transport and its affiliated bodies and institutions revealed on Monday that the total amount of direct and indirect damages and losses caused as a result of the aggression and blockade from March 2015 to March 2023 amounted to 13,442,851,000 dollars.

The Minister of Transport, Abdulwahhab Al-Durra, said in a press conference organized by the Ministry of Transport on the 8th anniversary of the National Resilience Day, that the US-Saudi aggression targeted the infrastructure of the various transport sectors in order to stop the operation of ports, airports, land crossings and sea routes.

Al-Durra pointed out that since the implementation of the humanitarian truce and the periods of calm that followed, the aggression coalition countries and their mercenaries are still continuing the economic blockade and impeding the full opening of airports and ports.

“The aggression coalition and its mercenaries are still practicing the worst methods and exchanging roles for not opening the Sana’a airport, by stopping Cairo flights since the beginning of the first truce and programming limited flights to Jordan, which led to the continued suffering of citizens by traveling by land,” the transport minister said.

He mentioned that the Civil Aviation Authority granted permits to Arab and local airlines to operate flights from Sana’a airport, but the aggression coalition and its mercenaries suspended the permits and threatened the companies to stop their flights to Aden airport.

The transport minister pointed out that the number of flights through Sana’a and Queen Alia airports during the 11 months of the armistice and calm period was 126, and a single flight to Cairo, during which no more than 67,000 passengers were transported. He noted that before the aggression, Sana’a airport received 50 flights per day, transporting 5,000 passengers per day, or 1.8 million passengers per year.