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.