Monday October 24, 2022
Somali Airlines Airbus A310-304 at FRA/EDDF - Frankfurt [Rhein-Main], Germany in 1990 / Photo: Juergen Lutz / Source: PlanePictures.Net
Mogadishu (HOL) – Somali Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Fardowsa Osman Egal appointed seven members to work on the relaunching of Somali Airlines after over three decades of hiatus.
In a decree issued on Sunday, the Ministry of Transport and Aviation said the committee's nomination comes following consultation of re-operation Somalia's flag carrier.
Members of the committee are Ali Ga'al Gaabow, appointed as the committee leader, Captain Mohamed Nur Aadan, Captain Abdu Guled Mohamed, Ahmed Moalim Hassan, Captain Aidarus Ahmed Kahiye, and Abdi Mohamed Mohamud.
Abdirisakh Aadan Geddi will be the secretary of the appointed committee.
Members of the committee were given 30 days from November 1st to submit a comprehensive plan to relaunch Somali Airlines.The appointment comes a month after Somalia's transport minister attended an African aviation conference in Rwanda.
While at the conference, Minister Egal met with RwandAir CEO Yvonne Manzi Makolo and discussed what Somalia Airlines' revival project could learn from Rwanda Air, which was founded in 2003.
Previous Somali administrations have made similar attempts at organizing the relaunch but with limited success.
Somalia's former transport minister, Mohamed Abdullahi Salad, held a closed-door meeting consultative meeting with Somali Airlines employees in December 2017 to explore reviving Somali Airlines and how it would be structured.
Established in 1964, Somali Airlines was the flag carrier of Somalia. It offered flights to both domestic and international destinations.
The White Star Service, as it was affectionately known, ceased operations following the collapse of Somalia’s central government in 1991.
It operated Boeing 720Bs, Boeing 707-300s and Airbus A310-300s on a network that stretched from the Middle East to Europe.