Somaliland Denies Landing Passenger Plane over Mogadishu Issued Permission

Hargeisa, June 18, 2013 (SDN) –– Somaliland authorities on Tuesday denied clearance to a passenger Airline to land at the Hargeisa’s  Egal international airport. Civil aviation ministry revealed in a press statement that the plane, carrying passengers, was denied permission to land after the pilot took landing permission from Mogadishu. The press statement also revealed that the SS34turbo-prop aircraft was the first aircraft to take landing permission from Mogadishu. The flight was made to land at Galkacayo airport. In last month Somaliland government has banned UN aircrafts from flying over, or landing in Somaliland. The announcement came after Somalia’s Federal government in Mogadishu announced that they are preparing to take over the control of Somalia airspace by the end of this year.

Somaliland and Somalia’s airspace control has been under the Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority of Somalia (CACAS) which is a civil aviation authority programme created by the United Nations in 1996. CACAS has served as a caretaker for Somaliland and Somalia’s airspace since the collapse of Siyad Barre’s regime in 1991 and the subsequent inception of Somaliland as a independent country from the rest of Somalia. The organization has collected over-flight revenues on behalf of Somaliland and Somalia.

SDN Hargeisa