UAE Denies Near-Miss Collision with Ethiopian Airlines Plane

Somaliland Civil Aviation Authority issued a statement on Sunday. It stated that on Sunday, 24^th March, an Ethiopian Airlines plane nearly missed a collision with an Emirates Airways plane. The incident happened when Mogadishu Control Centre instructed both flights, EK722 and ET690, to maintain an altitude of 37,000 feet.

This is the second reported incident involving a miss collision over Somalia within a month. The earlier incident happened on February 24. Somalia denied February’s incident. No statement from Somalia’s civil aviation authority about this Sunday’s incident so far.

Today, Emirates Airline denied this near-miss collision, which Somaliland had confirmed earlier. As per the statement of Emirates Airways, no such incident happened. The Emirates Airlines spokesperson added that all Emirates aircraft were capable of maintaining a safe distance during the operation, and the airline ensured high standards of passenger safety.

However, according to some aviation experts, this collision incident between Ethiopian Airlines and Emirates Airways planes happened, but they are not reporting it to save their reputation in public.

These incidents in Somalia’s airspace are linked to fight between Somalia and Somaliland for the control of the airspace over Somalia and Somaliland. Somaliland has been struggling for recognition as a country for more than two decades. Somalia claims that, in accordance with international law, Somaliland is part of Somalia.

Somalia-Somaliland and Somalia-Ethiopia tensions escalated earlier this year after Ethiopia signed an MoU with Somaliland for gaining access to sea through Somaliland in return for recognizing Somaliland as a country.

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