Berbera International Airport ( so, Madaarka Caalamiga ah ee Berbera) is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

Berbera Berbera (; so, Barbara, ar, بربرة) is the capital of the Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of the British Somaliland protectorate before Hargeisa. It ...

, a city in the northwestern Sahil province in Somaliland. The airport was renovated and opened to international passengers on 20th November 2021.

History

The Berbera airport has a

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

, one of the longest on the continent. The runway was built by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

(USSR) in the mid-1970s in order to counter the United States' military presence in the region. It was rented by NASA at a cost of US$40 million per year, and used as an emergency landing site for the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

from 1980 until 1991, when the government of former President of Somalia Siad Barre collapsed. In 2012, Somaliland's Ministry of Civil Aviation contracted the Tekleberhan Ambaye Construction Plc (TACON) in join venture with Afro-Tsion Contracting and investment Company to build a new terminal and perimeter fence at the Berbera airport. The Grade 1 firm had previously constructed various buildings in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, including the

Oromia Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Be ...

region president's office, the Yayu fertilizer factory, Jimma University,

Mekelle University Mekelle University ( ti, መቐለ ዩኒቨርሲቲ) is a higher education and training public institution located in Mekelle, Tigray Region, Ethiopia, 783 kilometers north of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. Mekelle University is one of the lar ...

and Gambella Region Technical and Vocational Training College. A joint venture with the Afro-Tsion Contracting and Investment Company, the project's design was conceived by the International Consultants Technocrats with joint venture with the Afro-Tsion Contracting and Investment Company. It cost 83 million

Ethiopian birr The birr ( am, ብር) is the unit of currency in Ethiopia. It is subdivided into 100 ''santim''. In 1931, Emperor Haile Selassie I formally requested that the international community use the name ''Ethiopia'' (as it had already been known inte ...

in total, 3 million birr of which was earmarked for TACON. In March 2015, President of Somaliland

Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud "Silanyo" ( so, Axmed Maxamed Maxamuud Siilaanyo, ar, احمد محمد محمود سيلانيو) (born 1938) is a Somaliland politician who was President of Somaliland from 2010–2017. He is a long-time member of the g ...

officially inaugurated the new airport terminal and fence, with officials from

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

, Ethiopia and

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

in attendance. The terminal was constructed on a land plot and has various facilities, including public address and communication equipment, baggage transfer and checkpoints, security checks, a water tanker, capacity scales, and an asphalt road leading toward the runway. The airport fence is also in length. In 2019, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

(UAE) announced plans to restore the Berbera Airport after a six-day visit by Somaliland president

Muse Bihi Abdi Musa Bihi Abdi ( so, Muuse Biixi Cabdi, ar, موسى بيحي عبدي) (born 1948 in Hargeisa, British Somaliland, now Somaliland) is a Somaliland politician and former military officer who has been President of Somaliland since December 2017. ...

to the United Arab Emirates. The renovation works were carried out by

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

-based company Transport Infrastructure Services Limited (TISL). The airport was opened in November 20th 2021.

Airlines and destinations

As of November 2021,

Ethiopian Airlines Ethiopian Airlines (commonly referred to as Ethiopian; am, የኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ, translit=Ye-Ītyōṗṗyā āyer menged), formerly ''Ethiopian Air Lines'' (EAL), is the flag carrier of Ethiopia, and is wholly owned by ...

has scheduled flights at the airport. Previously, African Express Airways and Daallo Airlines served several domestic and few international routes within Africa.africanexpress.net - Booking
retrieved 13 February 2021

References

External links

* * {{authority control Airports in Somaliland Sahil, Somaliland