Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Aden International Airport (OYAA) sits on the Yemeni coast at Aden, occupying the site of the former RAF Khormaksar station, and remains the country's second-busiest airport after Sana'a. It offers a single long hard-surfaced runway with ILS guidance, but its recent history of closures and fighting during the Yemeni civil war makes it a field of considerable historical interest rather than routine operation for the simulator pilot.
Aden International Airport lies on the southern coast of Yemen at the city of Aden, on the site of the former RAF Khormaksar station. It is the country's second-largest airport after Sana'a International, and today combines a civilian role, chiefly as the historic hub of the former Alyemda Yemen Democratic Airlines, with continuing use as a Yemeni Air Force base. Its long and turbulent history, from RAF station to Soviet naval aviation base to civil-war battleground, makes it a distinctive destination for pilots interested in the aviation history of the Arabian Peninsula.
The airport is located at Aden, Yemen, at coordinates 12.8292 N, 45.03 E, at a field elevation of 7 feet above mean sea level. It serves the city of Aden and is the principal air facility for southern Yemen.
Aden International has a single physical runway, 08/26, aligned east-west. It is a hard-surfaced runway of approximately 10,170 to 10,171 feet in length, lit, and equipped with an ILS on the 08 approach.
Radio services at Aden include Approach on 119.7 MHz, ATIS on 122.6 MHz, Ground on 121.9 MHz, Tower on 118.7 MHz, and additional radio frequencies of 565.8 MHz and 891.8 MHz. The airport is equipped with an ILS, supporting instrument approaches to runway 08.
The airport occupies the site of RAF Khormaksar, which opened in 1917 during the Aden Province era and served as an RAF station until 1967, when it closed following the Aden Emergency and the independence of South Yemen. During the 1970s and 1980s the field also served as a Soviet Naval Aviation station, visited by Ilyushin Il-38 aircraft of the 77th independent Long-Range Anti-Submarine Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Pacific Fleet and the 145th independent Long-Range Anti-Submarine Aviation Squadron of the Baltic Fleet. From 1971 until 1996 the airport was the main hub of Alyemda Yemen Democratic Airlines. A new terminal was built between 1983 and 1985 with a capacity for one million passengers a year, and a major reconstruction and expansion, including a new runway able to handle large long-haul aircraft, was completed in 2001; a new control tower and airport department building were finished in 2000. The airport has also been the scene of several notable incidents, including the hijacking of an Ethiopian Airlines Douglas C-47A in 1969, the diversion of hijacked Lufthansa Flight 649 in 1972 (resolved after a five million dollar ransom was paid), the crash of EgyptAir Flight 763 on approach in the same year, a fuel stop by hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 in 1977 during which the captain was murdered, the loss of an Alyemda Douglas C-47A into the Red Sea in 1977, and the hijacking of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 637 in 1992. During the Yemeni civil war the airport became a battleground: the Battle of Aden Airport took place on 19 March 2015, when Houthi forces attacked the field and were repelled by forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, during which more than 100 people were evacuated from a Yemenia aircraft and a Boeing 747 used as a presidential aircraft was damaged by gunfire. Operations were suspended for months afterward owing to bombing associated with Operation Decisive Storm.
The airport reopened for aid flights in July 2015 and briefly for civilian traffic in November 2015 after ten months of closure, though service remained sporadic for some time afterward; a blockade imposed in February 2016 was lifted in November 2017, when the first commercial flight since the blockade landed. Flights were again suspended for four days in late January 2018 before resuming on 1 February 2018. In January 2026 Yemeni government forces secured full control of the airport after capturing Aden from the Southern Transitional Council. The field continues to serve as a Yemeni Air Force base, home to the 128 Squadron Detachment, which operates transport and attack helicopters including the Ka-27/28, Mi-8, Mi-14, Mi-17 and Mi-24. Yemenia operates scheduled services from Aden to destinations including Addis Ababa, Amman, Cairo, Djibouti, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait City, Mukalla, Mumbai, Riyadh, Seiyun and Socotra, alongside other carriers serving regional points such as Mogadishu and Djibouti.