Sudan’s national flag carrier, SUDANAIR, resumed commercial service to the capital with a flight landing at Khartoum International Airport on Sunday, the second such commercial landing since the war began nearly three years ago, according to state-run SUNA as reported by the Associated Press.
SUNA said the domestic flight arrived Sunday afternoon after leaving earlier in the day from Port Sudan, a Red Sea city that had served as an interim seat for Sudan’s government. The administration moved back to Khartoum earlier this year, SUNA reported, framing the airport’s limited reopenings as part of efforts to re-establish the city’s normal functions.
AP reported that the reopening of Khartoum International Airport was a crucial step for the government’s attempts to normalize life in a capital whose infrastructure and daily operations have been disrupted by the conflict. The war has pitted Sudan’s military against the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, with fighting continuing across the country.
SUNA described the Sunday landing as the second commercial flight to reach Khartoum since the conflict began. AP said a privately owned airline, Badr Airlines, had previously landed at the airport in October last year, the first commercial arrival reported since the war’s disruption of the facility.
AP said the RSF launched drones at the airport to disrupt the government’s efforts to reopen it, and noted that the airport was severely damaged in the first weeks of the war. AP also reported that the military later retook Khartoum from the RSF earlier last year.
The conflict began in April 2023 after a power struggle between the military and the RSF escalated into open fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan. AP reported that U.N. figures place the death toll above 40,000, while aid groups say the true number may be much higher, and said the war has driven over 14 million people from their homes.
In addition to displacement, AP reported that the war has fueled disease outbreaks and pushed parts of the country toward famine, underscoring the broader humanitarian crisis alongside the intermittent steps to restore transportation links to Khartoum.