ETHIOPIAN Airlines and flydubai have agreed to a demand from the Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) to refer to Hargeisa, the capital of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, as part of Somalia in their online booking systems. The SCAA had threatened to revoke the airlines’ access to Somali airspace if they did not comply by August 24.
Previously, Ethiopian Airlines listed Hargeisa without mentioning any country, while flydubai identified it as being in Somaliland, a region that declared independence in the early 1990s but is not internationally recognised. Despite negotiations from Ethiopian Airlines to extend the deadline for the change, the SCAA insisted that the necessary updates should be completed within two days, citing available technological capabilities.
Ethiopian Airlines operates flights to several cities in Somalia, including Mogadishu, Garowe, and Bosaso, while flydubai transits Somali airspace en route to other African destinations, though it does not operate flights to other Somali cities.
Other airlines that serve Hargeisa, such as Daallo Airlines, Jubba Airways, African Express Airways, and Air Djibouti, already comply with the requirement, either listing Hargeisa as a Somali city or omitting country names entirely.
Somaliland, formerly an Italian colony that merged with British Somalia in 1960, declared independence in the early 1990s. Although it operates as a self-governing entity, international law still considers it part of Somalia, and it is subject to Somali authority, including airspace control.
