Ethiopian airlines, Emirates flights allegedly avoided midair collision over Somalia

The Somaliland Civil Aviation and Airport Authority has reported that an Ethiopian Airlines plane and an Emirates flight nearly avoided colliding over Somalia’s airspace on March 24th.

According to a statement from the authority, around 12:43am East Africa Time, Emirates flight UAE722 and Ethiopian Airlines flight ETH690 were assigned the same altitude of 37,000 feet by air traffic controllers in #Mogadishu.

“A few minutes before the collision, the efforts made by the Somaliland Air Traffic Controllers and the pilot of the Ethiopian Airlines caused the pilot to quickly change his altitude and climb to 39,000 feet,” the statement said.

The authority criticized the air traffic controllers in Mogadishu, stating “the Mogadishu Controllers regularly make mistakes like these, which are a threat to the safety of international flights.”

The statement further alleged, “The stubbornness and lack of knowledge seen in the Mogadishu Tower is a threat to the safety of the air.”

This is not the first such reported incident. In February 2024, a #Qatar Airways Boeing 787 and an Ethiopian Airlines A350 were also said to have narrowly avoided a collision after being provided conflicting altitude instructions, according to the Somaliland authority.

Neither Ethiopian Airlines nor the air traffic control authorities in Mogadishu have publicly commented on the latest claimed incident as of this report.

Source:-AS