Yemen/Socotra: Flying to Socotra via Sayun
De jure, Socotra Archipelago is a separate Governorate within Yemen, while de facto it is more or less sovereign or partially dependent on UAE and Saudi Arabia. There are no direct flights to Socotra and only one flight per week connects the archipelago to the rest of the world. This flight originates in Cairo with Yemenia Airways (national carrier of Yemen), and after a 3.5 hour flight lands on Yemeni mainland in Sayun, where everybody disembarks and waits for a couple hours in the otherwise modern airport (with beautiful views of mountains, desert, and a few military helicopters and tanks). Your passports are taken away and the returned. The flight resumes then to Socotra, another 1.5 hours across the Arabian Sea.
