■ SOMALIA: Favori LLC takes over Aden Adde Int'l as Minister repudiates leaked UN letter as a "hoax".

Turkish firm, Favori LLC officially assumed control of Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport from Dubai-based SKA Logistics on Saturday September 14. Somali Minister for Information, Abdullahi Herso Elmoge, said the process of handing over control of the facility was completed on the morning of Sunday September 15.

■ SOMALIA: Ethiopian suspends Hargeisa, Berbera flights over impasse with Somaliland government.

Ethiopian Airlines (ET) has suspended its services to the Somalian towns of Berbera and Hargeisa owing to sub-standard infrastructure. Flights between Addis Ababa and the capital of Somaliland, Hargeisa, were only recently resumed after significant upgrade works to the airport's infrastructure. However, it has since emerged that the quality of work done to runway 06/24 has allegedly proven substandard resulting in Ethiopian suspending its flights.

■ SOMALIA: Minister of Transport implicates own President in Mogadishu airport deal scandal.

A huge scandal is brewing in Somalia over allegations by the Minister of Information, Post, Telecommunications & Transportation, Abdullahi Elmoge Hersi, that the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and the wife of the prime minister, Asha Haji Elmi, are the primary benefactors of a contract controversially awarded to Turkish firm, Favori LLC, for the management of Mogadishu Aden Adde International Airport. 

■ SOMALIA: Turkey's Favori LLC to assume control of Mogadishu Aden Adde International Airport.

Favori LLC, a consortium of Turkish construction firms Çetin Group and Kozuva with USD3million capital, is set to assume the management of Mogadishu's Aden Adde International Airport with effect from September 15, the airport's current manager, Ali Mohamed Ibrahim, has said. The news comes after months of speculation about the future of a 10-year concession awarded to Dubai-based firm, SKA Air & Logistics, in 2010. 

► KENYA: Tropic Air's AOC reinstated following KCAA's investigation into Somalia ops.

Tropic Air, a private air charter company based in Northern Kenya, has resumed flights after a 3 week-long suspension of its operations owing to an enquiry by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) into a humanitarian flight the airline supported in Somalia, in July. 

► SOMALIA: Jubba Airways begins wetlease of an An30F from Congo's Aéro-Frêt Business.

Somalia's Jubba Airways (6J) has reportedly wet-leased an Antonov An-30 freighter, TN-AHP, from Congolese cargo specialists, Aéro-Frêt Business, based out of Pointe Noire, for use on its domestic Somali passenger flights. 

► SOMALIA: An26 overruns runway on landing at Guri'el airstrip, impacts rock; one injured.

A Ukrainian Antonov An-26 (MCN 57314101 | EK-26818) operated by South Airlines overran the runway on touchdown at Guri'el airstrip in Somalia's central Galgadud region on Sunday, August 25, injuring one crew member. The flight, inbound from Mogadishu Aden Adde International Airport, was reportedly carrying the region's newly appointed governor, Husein Ali Wahliye, on a trip to visit Dhusamareb, Guri'el and Abudwaq.

■ SOMALIA: Somaliland reopens Hargeisa International Airport following runway works.

Egal International Airport, the airport that serves Hargeisa, the capital of the self-proclaimed autonomous region of Somaliland, has reopened following the successful completion of USD4.6million in renovation and upgrade work to its runway, aprons and taxiways.

►► SOMALIA: Ethiopian Air Force Antonov AN12 crashes on landing in Mogadishu; 4 dead.

[UPDATE AUGUST 15] On Friday, August 9, an Ethiopian Air Force Antonov AN-12 military transport (MCN ? | 1513) crashed on landing at Mogadishu's Aden Adde International Airport killing four of the six persons aboard. The other two are said to have sustained serious injuries and are recovering at a Mogadishu hospital run by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), a regional peacekeeping force.

■ SOMALIA: Somaliland lifts UN flights ban after Turkish brokered talks resolve impasse with Mogadishu.

Turkey has successfully brokered an agreement following talks between the autonomous, yet internationally unrecognised, state of Somaliland and Somalia in which United Nations aircraft will once more be allowed to resume transiting Somaliland airspace and airports, effective July 15. Mr Mahmoud Abdi Hashi, Somaliland's Minister of Civil Aviation and Air Transport, made the announcement in Hargeisa.

► SOMALIA: Turkish Airlines says strongest performing route is Mogadishu.

Turkish Airlines (TK) has announced a marked growth in the number of passengers flying to Turkey and onward to its other international destinations.  Between January and June 2013, Turkish Airlines saw a 25.8 percent increase in global ticket sales over the same period in 2012, a total of more than 22.4 million passengers with African traffic accounting for a significant proportion in that increase.

► SOMALIA: (MEDIA) Air Uganda touches down in Mogadishu.

Air Uganda (U7) on 8 July 2013, launched its 3x weekly service between Entebbe and Mogadishu, Somalia using a CRJ200. On hand to see in the arrival were Government officials from both Somalia and Uganda who welcomed the Air Uganda jet with the symbolic “water canon salute”.

► SOMALIA: Presidential jet develops engine problems after take off for Juba; returns safely BUT..

A plane, an unconfirmed DC9-10 (MSN 45740 | 5Y-SAX) belonging to Kenya's FlySAX (B5), carrying Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, to Juba, South Sudan was yesterday forced to make an emergency landing at Mogadishu's Aden Adde International Airport after developing engine trouble shortly after takeoff, Radio Mogadishu has reported.

■ SOMALIA: SKA Group shows commitment to Mogadishu Aden Abdulle International Airport with new generator.

SKA International Group, the Dubai-based logistics firm that was awarded the management contract of Mogadishu's Aden Abdulle International Airport, Mogadishu has announced the addition of a 500KVa generator to the terminal as show of its commitment to the project. Recently, the Somali press has speculated about the firm's future at Aden Abdulle given the awarding of a construction and management contract for a new passenger terminal to Turkish company, Favori LLC.

► SOMALIA: Air Uganda to start Entebbe - Mogadishu from July 8.

True to its word, Air Uganda (U7) will from 8 July 2013, launch its previously announced 3x weekly service between Entebbe and Mogadishu, Somalia using its recently delivered CRJ200 (MCN 7363 | 5X-UGH).

► KENYA: Astral Aviation outlines expanded regional cargo network; to replace DC9s with MD83Fs.

Kenyan cargo operator, Astral Aviation (8V), has announced an enhanced intra-African freighter schedule which is based on a cautious expansion strategy to increase connectivity from its Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International hub to the East African region.

► DUBAI: Somalia's Jubba Airways eyes direct Mogadishu - Dubai flights from late June.

Fresh from the recent launch of flights to Adado, Kismayo and Baidoa, Somalia carrier Jubba Airways (6J), says it intends to launch direct Mogadishu - Dubai flights with effect from late June, though timetable checks reveal a potential July 1 launch.

■ SOMALIA: Government assumes control of its airspace from CACAS as Somaliland bans all UN flights in retaliation.

Somalia's Minister for Information, Abdullahi Elmoge Hersi, says his government has once more resumed control of its national airspace after twenty years following a handing over ceremony held at Mogadishu's Aden Adde International Airport with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) who collectively form the Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority for Somalia (CACAS).

► DJIBOUTI: Turkish Airlines to boost Mogadishu, Djibouti flights to 5x weekly from October.

Turkish Airlines (EK) will, from 27OCT13, adding a 5th weekly frequency on its Istanbul – Djibouti – Mogadishu route, through the addition of a new Sunday flight from Istanbul, Mondays from Djibouti and Mogadishu. 

► SOMALIA: Air Uganda eyeing Mogadishu flights with third CRJ200.

The newly appointed CEO of Air Uganda (U7), Cornwell Muleya, has set forth a bold new initiative by saying his company plans to use it's recently acquired Bombardier CRJ200 (MCN 7363 | 5X-UGH) to commence direct flights between Entebbe and the Somali capital, Mogadishu, later this year.