Aviation authorities in the breakaway region of Somaliland accused Somalia of negligence, saying two passenger planes nearly collided while flying at 37,000 feet above East Africa.
But Emirates denied the incident and the Somaliland Civil Aviation and Airports Authority said Emirates and Ethiopian Airlines were among the airlines involved.
The claim comes against the backdrop of an ongoing dispute over control of airspace in the Horn of Africa, with Somaliland and Somalia accusing each other of disrupting airspace operations and communications.
An Emirates Airline Boeing 777 and an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max “nearly collided” on Sunday, Somaliland reported, when air traffic controllers in the Somali capital Mogadishu told the two planes that Flying at the same altitude.
authority say on X – Previous Tweet – Said the crash was averted “as efforts by Somaliland air traffic controllers and Ethiopian Airlines pilots resulted in the pilots quickly changing altitude and climbing to 39,000 feet.”
It criticized Mogadishu’s air traffic controllers, saying they “routinely make such mistakes, which pose a threat to the safety of international flights”.
Emirates denied the reports and said on Wednesday that all its aircraft “have the capability to maintain safe separation and distance during operations.”
“Emirates can confirm that there were no aircraft proximity incidents in the airspace that affected the safety of the aircraft during the relevant date and time period,” the airline said. gulf news.
Somalia and Ethiopia, which are also facing escalating diplomatic differences, have yet to comment on the incident.
A month ago, Somaliland reported another near-miss between Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines in the same airspace.
It is alleged that on February 24, a Qatari Boeing 787-8 aircraft flying at 38,000 feet was “mistakenly told by controllers in Mogadishu” to climb to 40,000 feet, while the aircraft was facing 39,000 feet An Ethiopian Airbus A350 flying along the same route at high altitude.
Somaliland aviation authorities added that the traffic collision avoidance system on the Qatari plane issued an emergency warning, alerting the pilots to the oncoming plane, prompting them to land.
“The distance between the two planes is dangerous,” claim after the incident.
Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority denied the report and called it “fake news,” according to the independent Somali news website garowe online. The website noted that Qatar and Ethiopia have not yet reported the incident.
The affected airspace is one of the main and most direct routes to Africa from the Middle East and Asia, according to the flight tracking website Flight Radar 24.
Tensions have increased since Somaliland, which has yet to gain broad international recognition, signed an agreement with Ethiopia on January 2 allowing it to use its main port access to the Red Sea in exchange for recognition as an independent state.
Somalia, which considers Somaliland part of its territory, has rejected the agreement, saying it has no legal force.
January 17, Somalia Civil Aviation Authority said it had denied an Ethiopian Airlines plane entry into its airspace because it did not have the “required permission.” Bloomberg According to reports, the plane Heading to Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland Carrying Ethiopian officials.
Reported near-mid-air collisions add to growing concerns about aviation safety in the region, with Africa having the highest accident rate in 2023 at 6.38 per million flights, compared with 0.48 in Europe, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Aviation expert Jeffrey Thomas previously said: “A lot of this has to do with pilot training and the wealth of the country, they don’t have the infrastructure, the air traffic control system and the airports are substandard.” I.
“Unfortunately, in Africa, there are many countries that are not wealthy and therefore do not have navigation systems.”
In 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-8 Max crashed minutes after taking off from the airline’s capital, Addis Ababa, killing all 157 passengers and crew on board.
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