Abdullahi Yusuf Airport (IATA: GLK, ICAO: HCMR), formerly known as the Galkayo Airport, is an airport located in Galkayo, the capital of the north-central Mudug region of Somalia.
Overview
During the 1982 Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, the airport was bombed by several waves of Ethiopian Air Force jets. The attackers launched bombs and rockets at both the runway and the anti-aircraft defenses protecting it, but missed their targets. The runway which at the time was in the process of being extended, was undamaged by the attack.[4]
Like most of Galkayo, the Abdullahi Yusuf Airport is administered by the autonomous Puntland government.[5] It has acted as a buffer zone between the divided city's two main divisions. Taxes collected by the airport authority are split equally between the Puntland and Galmudug administrations, facilitating relations between the two regional authorities.[6]
On 25 March 2012, the facility was officially renamed in memory of the late Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the former President of Somalia, who was born in Galkayo.[7]
A Jubba Airways aircraft on flight 6J-711 from Hargeisa to Galkayo veered right off runway 05L while landing in clear weather conditions. Captain indicated that his flight crew overflew so as to avoid collision with a goat or dog that had wandered onto the runway. The 32 passengers and 4 crew were not injured. However, the plane incurred significant damage.
On 7 April 2014 a Briton and a Frenchman working for the United Nations were shot dead by a man in a police uniform while they sat in their car at Galkayo airport. A U.N. mission spokesman said it was not clear who was behind the attack. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. Security Council both strongly condemned the attack and called on Somali authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.[9]
On 2 October 2017 the airport's chief of security, Colonel Abdisalan Sanyare Owke, and his bodyguard, were shot dead by a policeman. The assailant's motive was not immediately clear.[10]
