Hi guys

I am the operations manager at a small airline operating four J328's in VIP configurations for charters.

We have received a request to fly a tour from Austria into Africa, Madagaskar, Réunion Island, Mahe Island, Oman, Jordan and back to Austria over a 2 week period.

The legs are quite long, up to 6 hours on the J328, which means we need to do a fuel stop on these long legs.

Fuel stops are not a problem, we do them all the time :), BUT on the Mahe Island - Oman leg from Seychelles Intl (FSIA) to Seeb Intl (OOMS) there is nothing but open water, and Somalia to the west.

My question is, how safe/efficient is it to stop for fuel in Somalia,??? As far as I know it is not a very safe place...

Anyone got any advise? We have mainly been operating in Europe, once into Marocco and a bit into Russia, so I am not very familiar with flying in Africa, let alone down to Madagaskar and these islands in the Indian Ocean.

Any advise greatly appreciated :)

Hi Bjornvil,

Maybe the best idea is to start with a call to your aircraft insurance company, and have a listen to what they say about Somalia and war-risk. It's been a while since I worked in Operations for Africa flights, but I'm quite confident Somalia is still a no-no..

I fly for a Middle East airline and on our Africa flights we do not even consider Somalia as an enroute alternate. Mogadishu is an option only if the next best option was ditching in the sea.

Thanks for your replies.

Our insurance certificate says coverage is Worldwide excluding Iraq, but I am sure they would have something to say about Somalia if the situation is like you say it is.

How about the surrounding countries, Kenya and Ethiopia, same situation there?

On the BBC earlier this week, there was a radio report about a couple of airlines that operate out of Mogadishu.
However within the last month, one of the muslim warlords has stated that now all aircraft are targets.
Prehaps there is your answer. Unless you want to be at the butts end of the Mogadishu Shooting and Racquet Club.

Bjornvil

Rule out Somalia entirely. Your clients won't thank you if things go awry at Mogadishu. Dar and Mombasa are the only choices despite the dogleg.

I can give you some contacts for Africa ops - my email is john at meflyer . com

Can not but agree any more with the above, put a big red X right through Mogadishu and Somalia.

Maybe consider Djibouti, Aden or even Sana'a.

Just options to consider

This is a wind up..

Hi there, i wouldnt even consider somalia. Lived and worked in africa and that place is REALLY bad. Curious, is it the DO328JET that you operate, i used to fly them and looking for fulltime work!

Thanks all of you for your replies. Pretty much what I expected.

The tour isn't confirmed yet, and I don't think it will confirm as the client is on a limited budget.

expatpilot4life: Yes, we operate the DO328Jet, but we are not looking to hire at the moment. Business is kind of slow these days as you can imagine :{

"Nearby" options are Mombasa, Nairobi, Addis, Djibouti, Sanaa, Asmara. Dire-Dawa might be worth a try, but you'd need to set it up carefully before comitting.