Zoe:
I also read the army is using the island nowadays?
Well it was "
taken over" by UAE forces in April 2018 which indicated something of a break up in the alliance of Saudi, UAE and the "internationally recognised" Yemeni government!!
The dispute got papered over then but
this article seems to indicate that, if you wait a few years you might be able to fly to a separate S Yemen (or even "Socotran") "client state" of the UAE (though that is going to require Saudi acquiescence) using frequent Emirates flights from Dubai or Etihad from Abu Dhabi and stay at a newly built "luxurious hotel" built and owned by the UAE!!!
The idea of separating Socotra from Yemen or even from a reconstituted "South Yemen" (i.e "Aden") is not totally without historic justification. Socotra was a British protectorate but with a separate history from the rest of the British protectorate of Aden. See
here for details on the "Mahra Sultanate of Qishn and Socotra" which shows the island's close cultural links with areas of the Hadramaut rather north of of true "Yemen". When UK decolonised from Aden in Oct 1967, Socotra was annexed into S Yemen some months later (Nov 30) and got carried into "united" Yemen when South and North Yemen amalgamated in 1990. Clearly an "uncomfortable" marriage to which the UAE is ready to give assistance in achieving divorce if it possibly can! The current weekly flights by Yemenia from Cairo with "official" Yemeni visas issued in somewhat difficult circumstances would seem to be an attempt by the "official" Yemeni government to try to keep "in the game" as far as Socotra is concerned.