The September 2 discrepancy renews questions over tracking gaps, undeclared flights and cargo entering Houthi-controlled territory

 The United Nations’ newly published flight schedule failed its first transparency test on September 2, when three aircraft reached Houthi-controlled Sana’a while the official UN Humanitarian Air Service schedule listed only one flight.

Dr Abdulqader Al-Kharraz and his monitoring team documented the three aircraft arriving within 41 minutes and departing shortly afterwards. The discrepancy shows that the resumed schedule—published after a gap of nearly one year—did not provide a complete record of humanitarian and medical air traffic entering Sana’a that day.

All humanitarian, medical and related flights to Sana’a operate within a UN-coordinated framework. Flights conducted for Médecins Sans Frontières or the International Committee of the Red Cross should therefore be publicly disclosed even if they are independently chartered and do not technically operate as UNHAS services.

If an exceptional emergency flight is arranged outside the published schedule, the UN should issue a prompt notice identifying the organisation responsible, the aircraft, its purpose and the reason for the unscheduled operation.

Three Aircraft in 41 Minutes

Al-Kharraz said the first aircraft was observed approaching Sana’a at low altitude at 11:14 a.m. and leaving the area at 12:41 p.m.

His team identified it by its registration, ZS-SNJ, a Beechcraft 1900D operated by Air-Tec and previously used for humanitarian missions.

According to Al-Kharraz, the aircraft’s signal did not appear on public flight-tracking platforms until after its departure. Field observers also did not see it land on Sana’a airport’s main runway, raising questions about where it landed and why its inbound movement was not publicly visible.

A second aircraft operating for Médecins Sans Frontières landed at Sana’a airport at 11:40 a.m. and departed at 12:15 p.m. A third flight linked to the ICRC landed at 11:55 a.m. and left at 12:35 p.m.

The presence of flights operated for separate humanitarian organisations does not explain their absence from the published record. The UN-coordinated aviation framework is intended to regulate international humanitarian access to Sana’a, not merely flights carrying a UNHAS designation.

Limited Schedule After a Year-Long Gap

The United Nations recently resumed publishing Yemen flight schedules after they had been unavailable since October 2025.

The September schedule lists only four flights to Sana’a, on September 2, 6, 20 and 23. Al-Kharraz linked the resumption to sustained field monitoring and comparisons between observed aircraft movements and earlier UN aviation records.

He also cited minutes from an August meeting of the UN Logistics Cluster in Aden that set a cargo limit of 500 kilograms per flight at a rate of $5 per kilogram.

That limit contrasts sharply with aircraft previously monitored by Al-Kharraz’s team and estimated to have carried between 10 and 20 tonnes. The difference reinforces demands for the publication of cargo manifests and records covering the period when flight schedules were not publicly available.

Previous Unexplained Aircraft Movement

The September 2 discrepancy follows another incident documented by Al-Kharraz’s team on August 24.

An unidentified aircraft landed at Sana’a airport while UN flight UNO136H passed over the capital without landing. Public tracking data showed the UN aircraft continuing north as the unidentified aircraft entered the airport without displaying identification or route information.

Two days later, the same UN flight returned from Aden to Jordan along the direct Red Sea route without passing over Sana’a.

The unusual timing raised questions over whether the visible UN aircraft movement provided cover for the unidentified arrival and prompted calls for the release of the approved flight plan and air-traffic-control records.

Sensitive and Dual-Use Cargo

Sheba Intelligence previously reported, citing a Yemeni government source, concerns that humanitarian flight permits may have been exploited to transport sensitive and dual-use materials with potential military applications into Houthi-controlled territory.

The concerns also included the possible movement of foreign specialists using false identities or forged documents, prompting government discussions over tighter inspections and mandatory disclosure of passengers, cargo and flight routes.

Publishing four UNHAS dates does not amount to full transparency if other humanitarian aircraft continue to arrive without appearing in the public record. A credible disclosure system must cover every internationally coordinated flight into Sana’a and provide immediate notification of any emergency or exceptional operation conducted outside the schedule.