Hargeisa,
Somaliland (HOL) – Flydubai, the Emirati government owned airline failed on two
consecutive times to land at Egal International Airport in Hargeisa owing to
poor visibility and lack of landing systems at the facility, Hiiraan Online
(HOL) has learnt.
A passenger who was aboard the airline on
January 11 and 12th of this month told HOL the plane could not land at Egal
Airport and was forced to return to Dubai via Djibouti airport on the two
consecutive days. Ethiopian Airlines also cancelled their daily scheduled
flights to Egal Airport due to bad weather.
HOL has learnt that Egal Airport does not have
Instrument Approach facilities such as the Instrument Landing System (ILS) or
VOR approach system which enables aircrafts to land during low visibility. In
the absence of especially ILS approach, aircrafts are exposed to accidents
during landing.
Egal Airport is on high altitude area of up to 4437
ft. above sea level thus more vulnerable to visibility problems. It is
imperative therefore that ILS approach system be installed at Egal
International Airport. Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu also lacks
Instrument Approach facilities but is less vulnerable compared to Egal Airport
because it is on low altitude. Mogadishu has an elevation of only 30 ft. above
sea level.
Risks of visibility have further been compounded by erratic climate change
necessitating the installation of ILS approach systems to avoid accidents
especially during landing.
The report of the failed landing comes barely two days after a journalist was
sentenced to one year by a court in Hargeisa over a story in which Flydubai is
alleged to have complained about the safety at Egal Airport.
Horn Cable editor Abdikadir Asayr was sentenced for what the prosecution said
was reporting which damaged the reputation of the aviation facility. Flydubai
has daily flights to Hargeisa.
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