Ethiopian Airlines and FlyDubai flights to Somaliland in limbo

In August, Ethiopian Airlines and Flydubai complied with a directive from the Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) which demanded that the two airlines to remove the name “Somaliland” from their websites and replace it with “Somalia” when referring to cities in Somaliland. If these demands had not been met, SCAA had threatened to revoke the two airlines’ access to its airspace by August 24. Ethiopian Airlines had shown Hargeisa without the name of the country, while Flydubai described it as located in Somaliland.

Now that Ethiopian Airlines and FlyDubai officially complied with the directive, Somaliland has hit back with their own directive announced by the Civil Aviation and Airports Authority in Somaliland, giving the two airlines a three-week grace period to re-register Somaliland’s name on flights to Hargeisa and Berbera. It is still not clear what action would be taken if the airlines fail to comply.

Somalia and Somaliland Background

Somaliland and Somalia were once separate territories under British and Italian colonial rule, respectively, and united in 1960 to form the Republic of Somalia. However, political tensions and civil war in the late 1980s led to the collapse of Somalia’s government in 1991. Amid the chaos, Somaliland declared independence and established its own stable government.

Somaliland, with a population of 5.7 million, has its own constitution, flag, passport, army, currency, government, President, and holds regular direct elections. However, its lack of international recognition has been a significant obstacle to accessing the funding and assistance needed for economic development.