Sudan airspace closure extended: ‘Humanitarian and evacuation flights only’

The closure of Sudan’s airspace to all air traffic has been extended until July 31, it was announced today. This will exclude humanitarian aid and evacuation flights ‘after obtaining a permit from the relevant authorities’.

In a statement via the Sudan News Agency (SUNA), and a NOTAM bulletin for pilots today, the Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has extended the closure of Sudan’s airspace until July 31. The announcement points out that the closure excludes humanitarian aid and evacuation flights “after a relevant permission obtained from the competent authorities”.

Sudan’s airspace was initially closed to regular traffic after the erupted between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in mid-April. The closure has since been extended several times. In the wake of the hostilities, several countries scrambled to evacuate their citizens from Sudan, which resulted in a massive international airlift operation.