I quite often get asked what it is like to fly Yemenia. Is it safe? being the real point of the question. I have flown in first class and economy class on Yemenia over 30 times, on routes inside Yemen and also to London, Rome, Dubai and Jeddah.

My first experience of Yemenia was on a flight to London. The plane was ancient, like something from the 1970s. It matches the prevailing Yemen fashion which is for anything brown, cream or orange and worn like a 1970s football player. Life On Mars comes to mind.

Upon final approach to Heathrow, the cockpit security door flew open, and continued to open and close with incredible velocity until we touched down.  This was great in that, sitting towards the front of the plane, i managed to see the entire landing as if i was sat just behind the pilot. It also made me think about the quality of the fleet. Regardless, i got off the plane smiling to myself at having this final bit of ‘Yemen Madness’, as i arrived in London.

One of the more infamous (not for safety reasons) Yemenia routes is Heathrow – Cairo – Sanaa. This flight leaves LHR at around 2100 and stops in Cairo (unannounced) at about 0400 local. Now, the reason for this flight is that it acts as a shuttle service taking people backwards and forwards between Yemen and Egypt’s much better hospital facilities. I nickname it the Sanaa Sanitorium Shuttle. Having boarded at Heathrow and taken off with a plane only a quarter full, you stretch out and try to sleep. Little do you know that the plane is going to stop at Cairo, where every Yemeni with a limb missing, who has been blinded or suffering from some form of acute non stop shaking and shouting complex, is about to board the plane and fill every remaining seat. The final 2 hours to Sanaa are hell beyond description.

But, flying Yemenia, anything goes: A quick fag in flight with the air stewardesses at the back of the plane. Qat can quite often be had and chewed and shared Yemeni style during the over night flights. The cabin crew dont give a shit about anything and try to serve the food before the plane has reached the end of the take off runway, so they can then sleep the remainder of the flight. There’s no Emirates style ICE system, only good old fashioned Egyptian comedy on colour faded overhead monitors. Limits on cabin baggage dont seem to apply to Yemenia flights so you carry on board your whole baggage collection. They dont serve alcohol, but you can bring your own on board and the staff will keep it cold for you and serve it with your chicken and rice.

The joy of flying Yemenia has, of course, been that fact that you are with Yemenis. They are very, unintentionally, funny people. Highlights  are usually: none of them know, nor are they told, that seat numbers are on their boarding pass. Few of them can read English numbers anyway, therefore, it takes 3 times as long to board a plane with Yemenis on. Also, whenever you arrive in a place like Dubai’s airport from Yemen, one of the first things you have to do is to use an escalator. For a lot of Yemenis, this is a new experience and they tend to crowd around to watch how it is done before trying it themselves. Lastly, and my favourite, is when there is a temporary stop over, like in Mukallah or Aden, before the plane heads onto Sanaa. For the passengers who want to, a smoke would seem like an appropriate thing to do during the 45 minutes waiting. So they all head to the doors and down the stairs to the tarmac for a fag. Watching the chasing cabin staff trying to get them back on the plane is a real hoot!

Any bad news involving Yemen is always bad news for Yemen. It is bad enough having the terrorist and failed state tag, but now focus has shifted to the blame game about Yemen’s national airline’s safety record and rumors that at least one of their planes has been banned from French airspace.

Taking this further, one could investigate the Saudi connection in the Yemenia corporate structure (they are joint owners/investors). From what i have heard in Yemen, the Saudis aren’t high on the best buddies list. This is a very strained relationship at the moment.

Prayers to friends and family of those lost and particularly to the staff of Yemenia airlines.

My advice…when travelling by road using taxi or bus, you need to have the right permits.

Most Europeans can get Visas on entry as can others e.g. Australians and Americans. Visa information will be updated on this site as it changes.

The standard visa is a tourist visa which is fine for businessmen, and gives you 3 months. It costs 5,500 yemeni riyals – about $25 US.

You will need to complete a blue landing card which you should get on the plane before arriving. (If you are a regular visitor into Sana’a, make sure to get a handful for subsequent visits as sometimes the plane you are arriving on doesnt have any.) This will save you time completing the card in the immigrations hall.

Top Tip: on the bus that takes you to the immigrations area, keep on the left side of it, the drivers side, near the centre door. This will see you get out of the bus first and can get to the head of the line for visas. This is useful if you have arrived along with a load of tourists with no visas.

For the landing card, make sure you have details on where you are staying and also a contact number. Any other documentation supporting your reasons for being in Yemen would be useful.

At the visa desk, handover your passport and the 5,500 riyals. If you dont have any Yemeni riyals, there is an exchange counter next to the Visa desk and also an ATM. However, if you can, get riyals before you arrive. Maybe even try and do an exchange on the plane with a passenger…it is about 200 riyals to $1 US. Offer someone $30 dollars for the 5,500 yemeni riyals.

You should have no problems getting the Visa as long as you have no current or expired Israeli stamps etc.

Once you have the Visa, go to the immigration desk. Handover your passport and the entry card. Once in, you will enter the baggage reclaim. You may have your handbaggage scanned on the way into the baggage reclaim.

Baggage Reclaim

In the baggage reclaim there are guys who will get your bags and carry them out of the airport for you. This service costs about 200 yemeni riyals. Its worth doing and helps the locals. You may get stopped to have a baggage search. Sometimes this a reason for the immigration guy to get some ‘bakshish’. I have had a DVD cost me 1000 riyals. This is Qat money for the official. If they search your bag, they may find something and want to take you to a side office. This can be a bit worrying but it is usually so they can do the bakshish transaction in private. This corruption is being stamped out by the authorities, but it could still happen.

Arrivals Hall and Leaving The Airport 

Once clear of baggage reclaim and any checks, you then enter the arrivals hall. For the first time visitor to Yemen, this can be very exciting. Seeing the massed ranks of Yemeni’s with their traditional ‘Jambiya’ daggers, skirts and a mouthful of Qat is a unique site. Enjoy it and feel the warmth of these wonderful people.

In the arrivals hall are car hire companies, hotel reps and ATMs.

Opposite the ATMs is the Taxi Raha office. Taxi Raha is recognisable because they are ‘yellow’. If you aren’t being collected, use Taxi Raha to get you to your destination. They are a very clean and organised taxi service. Most drivers speak quite good English if your Arabic is non-existent and rusty. A journey from the airport is a fixed price of 2000 yemeni riyals – $10 US.

If there is no taxi raha available use another taxi. It will be about the same price to get to your destination.

You will have to complete a landing card so make sure you have all the information to hand including the address of your sponsor and ideally the sponsor letter. You may have to show this to immigration before stamping.

Your bags will be scanned and possibly searched AFTER baggage reclaim. One thing to note is if you have any cds, dvds and external hard-drives in your baggage is that they maybe looked at. Double check the contents of these before you arrive for any dubious material.

One likely hiccup is that at the immigration desk, your visa may not ’show up on the system’ and you will get told to go to another immigration desk. There they will process your entry.

Transportation. There are unofficial and official taxis. You will likely get hassled as soon as you enter the arrivals area by unofficial taxi drivers.  It is my experience that there is no difference between the two…ie for a trip into Jeddah you will have to pay a fixed rate with the official metered taxi, and the unofficial taxi will also offer you fixed rate. They tend to be about the same : 60 or 70 riyals. The official taxis generally want to take people who are on Umrah (the hajj ‘lite’) so they wont care for your business if you are going to Jeddah.

Banking and ATMS. There are a few of these in the arrivals hall.