Somalia to have full control of airspace by end of October

The government will have full control of its airspace by the end of October 2017 ending over 25 years of foreign control, Aviation Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Salad has said.

Salad said the government was finalizing the installation of airspace control equipment in Mogadishu to facilitate the transfer of the control systems from Nairobi.

“We expect for the first time [since early 1990s] Somali air space to be controlled from Mogadishu. Now what we need is get trained personnel who can take part in controlling Somali air space. As we are planning, we expect end of October 2017 to start this issue but a delay of some days can be possible because of installations of large amount of equipment” said Minister Salad.

Speaking during an Aviation Management for Africa meeting in Sharma Sheikh, Egypt, Salad said Somalia had made significant progress towards restoring full control of its airspace.

In addition the minister pointed out that night travel services had been restored after installation of the required equipment in Aden Abdulle International Airport for both civilian and military planes.

The United Nations Development Program and the International Civil Aviation Organization established the Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority for Somalia (CACAS) in the 1990s to take charge of the Somali airspace from Nairobi following the collapse of government in Mogadishu.