According to a statement issued by Hargeisa-based Noble Travel Agency (NTA), Djibouti Air will begin twice weekly services from Dubai to the Somaliland port city of Berbera in mid May. “The agreement is very good news for not only the company, but also the entire country,” Abdulqafar Mohamud Isse said, the managing director of NTA.
The actual terms of the signed agreement has not been disclosed but NTA says it will become the official representative of Djibouti Air in Somaliland and will be able to get hold of fares, tickets, schedules and travel products including hotel reservation through the airline’s central reservation system. Djibouti Air will be the first international airline to operate in Somaliland since October 2008, when Ethiopian Airlines suspended its direct flights to Hargeisa.
The Djibouti government recently received a major private investment to launch the new Djibouti Air as its national carrier. It is a joint-venture between the Djibouti Government and the UAE’s Lootah Group, Ibrahim Saeed Lootah, chairman of Lootah Group, a real estate and construction giant. It made its inaugural flight to Dubai last month and plans six-weekly flights from Djibouti to Dubai while it will launch within the next six months flights to neighbouring Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen. The airliner currently operates two Boeing 737-200 but according to Gulf News, it has placed an order for a third Boeing 737-300 to help expand its two-class Business and Economy configuration. The 737-300 will be used to serve destinations in Somaliland, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen.
The airliner will make its official debut in Somaliland in May, but Thursday was its first median flight when it picked up a Somaliland delegation including the President from Berbera on-route to Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Somaliland recently carried out renovations on some of its airports and plans to fully upgrade them in the near future and says the Egal International Airport in the capital is due to close for improvements. Meanwhile, it says it will divert traffic to Berbera airport, which has the longest runway in the African continent (originally constructed by the Soviets then the Americans for emergency landing for its spaceships).
Noble Travel Agency was founded in 2006 in Hargeisa, but after a short period it won a lucrative agreement with Ethiopian Airlines, one of the oldest and most profitable carriers in the continent with over 3 million passengers annually. That shortly lived after Ethiopia scraped its flights from Somaliland following the trio-suicide attacks that targeted a U.N. office, Ethiopian consulate and the presidential palace in October 2008.
Recent developments are indicative of the increased interest in the aviation market in Somaliland and the region. Kuwait is providing $10m to help Somaliland meet these demands and challenges. Dubai is a home and place of work, as well as a transit point to a large Somali diaspora community who travel to Somaliland and the region. This direct flight to Berbera from a new carrier will be in a position to cater for that market whilst offering greater comfort and a direct flight home.
(Report by Hassan Jama, editing by Mark T. Jones)
http://somalilandpress.com/djibouti-air ... ubai-21822
