The Associated Press (AP) on Friday published satellite photos showing a mysterious airstrip being built on Abd al-Kuri Island, part of the Socotra Archipelago, east of the Gulf of Aden, is nearing completion.
The AP said in a report by its correspondent, “Jon Gambrell,” that the runway is likely built by the United Arab Emirates, which has long been suspected of expanding its military presence in the region.
The report mentioned that the airstrip on Abd al-Kuri Island could provide a key landing zone for military operations patrolling that waterway. That could be useful as commercial shipping through the Gulf and Red Sea — a key route for cargo and energy shipments heading to Europe, especially after the military operations in support of Gaza by what they referred to as the “Houthis.”
Satellite photos taken Jan. 7 by Planet Labs PBC for the AP show trucks and other heavy equipment on the north-south runway built into Abd al-Kuri, which is about 35 kilometers (21 miles) in length and about 5 kilometers (3 miles) at its widest point.
The runway has been paved, with the designation markings “18” and “36″ to the airstrip’s north and south respectively. As of Jan. 7, there was still a segment missing from the 2.4-kilometer- (1.5-mile-) long runway that’s 45-meters (150-feet) wide. Trucks could be seen grading and laying asphalt over the missing 290-meter (950-foot) segment.
Once completed, the runway’s length would allow private jets and other aircraft to land there, though likely not the largest commercial aircraft or heavy bombers given its length, according to the AP.
The United Nations’ Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization, which assigns its own set of airport codes for airfields around the world, had no information about the airstrip on Abd al-Kuri, spokesman William Raillant-Clark said. Yemen, as a member state to ICAO, should provide information about the airfield to the organization. Nearby Socotra Island already has an airport declared to the ICAO.
It’s not the only airfield to see an expansion in recent years. In Mocha on the Red Sea, a project to extend that city’s airport now allows it to land far larger aircraft.
Local officials attributed that project to the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The airfield also sits on a similar north-south path as the Abd al-Kuri airstrip and is roughly the same length.
Other satellite photos from Planet Labs show yet another unclaimed runway currently under construction just south of Mocha near Dhubab, a coastal town in Yemen’s Taiz governorate, the AP added.
The AP indicated that the Emiratis appear likely to open the Abd al-Kuri airstrip.
An Emirati-flagged landing craft also was spotted off the coast of Abd al-Kuri in January 2024 and off Socotra multiple other times in the year. That vessel previously has been associated with the UAE’s military operations in Yemen, the AP said.
The AP noted that the new airport on Abd al-Kuri could provide a new, secluded landing zone for surveillance flights around Socotra Island under pretext of preventing the smuggling of weapons from Iran to the “Houthis”
