Hargeisa Egal International Airport is an international airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 in the city of Hargeisa

Hargeisa

Hargeisa is a city in the northwestern Woqooyi Galbeed region of Somalia. With a population of approximately 2 million residents, it is the second largest city in the country. Hargeisa is the capital of Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region...

 in Somaliland

Somaliland

Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...

, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized

Diplomatic recognition

Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences, whereby a state acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state...

 as an autonomous region of Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

. Hargeisa is Somalia's second largest city and Somaliland's capital and largest city.

Overview

Originally a small facility built during the colonial period, the former Hargeisa International Airport was expanded and modernized in the 1980s by the Siad Barre

Siad Barre

Mohamed Siad Barre was the military dictator and President of the Somali Democratic Republic from 1969 to 1991. During his rule, he styled himself as Jaalle Siyaad ....

 administration so as to accommodate larger aircraft and offer more flight destinations.

During the events leading up to the Somali Civil War

Somali Civil War

The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war taking place in Somalia. The conflict, which began in 1991, has caused destabilisation throughout the country, with the current phase of the conflict seeing the Somali government losing substantial control of the state to rebel forces...

 in the early 1990s, the airport's infrastructure was significantly damaged. However, the facility was gradually rehabilitated over the next several years.

The airport was later re-named to Egal International Airport after the veteran politician Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal. Egal served as Somalia's Prime Minister in the early 1960s during the country's post-independence civilian administration, before later becoming the Somaliland region's second President.

Airlines and destinations

Incidents

• On 28 June 1989, A Somali Airlines
  Somali Airlines
  Somali Airlines was the flag carrier of Somalia.-History and destinations:The carrier was formed in March 1964 as the national airline of the country with the aid of Alitalia, which initially held a 50% controlling stake in the company, and the Somali government held the balance...
  
   Fokker F-27 bound for Mogadishu
  Mogadishu
  Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....
  
  crashed approximately ten minutes after taking off from Hargeisa International Airport. All twenty-four passengers and six crew died in the crash.