Yemenia dates its origins back to "Yemen Airlines", a company that was founded in the second half of the 1940s and owned by Ahmad bin Yahya, then King of Yemen. When the Yemen Arab Republic was proclaimed in 1962, Yemen Airlines was issued a new airline licence on 4 August of that year (which remains valid until today), thus becoming the flag carrier of the country, with its head office in the Ministry of Communication Building in Sana'a. In 1967, the airline entered a co-operation with United Arab Airlines, which lasted until 1972. During that period, it was known as "Yemen Arab Airlines".