Yemen has yet to upgrade airport security to allow the lifting of a suspension of direct flights to Britain from the impoverished Arab country, a British official said on Tuesday.
Last month, Britain suspended direct flights of Yemeni state carrier Yemenia on security grounds after the failed Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound airliner for which a Yemen-based al Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility.
"We hope that we can identify very quickly the enhanced security measures that will be necessary, that those measures can be put in place to cope with higher levels of security," said Ivan Lewis, minister of state in the foreign office, after meeting Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
He declined to say when direct flights might be resumed, saying only that Britain was helping Yemen to improve airport security in the capital Sanaa.
Yemen has increased staff at its main airport but experts say providing security is a challenge due to the lack of space at the small airport built in the 1970s.
