A new Mogadishu airport: the study, the site and the open questions

Where Xidig members may contribute

These are learning and collaboration opportunities, not confirmed jobs or contracts.

• Public consultation: taking part in the environmental and social assessment when it is published for comment.
• Technical review: airport planners and engineers reading published studies and sharing constructive comments.
• Aviation operations: air traffic, safety and airport management skills, which any new airport will need.
• Land and community issues: following how land acquisition and resettlement are handled.

Possible services, research, supplier or collaboration roles

• A members' tracker of the airport study, the developer's announcements and official decisions.
• Independent summaries of the environmental and social assessment in Somali, once it is published.

Who may find this useful

• Aviation professionals and airport engineers.
• Urban and transport planners.
• Environmental and social safeguards specialists.
• Businesses in air freight and travel.
• Communities near the proposed site.

The study, the foundation stone and the figures

The World Bank-funded study.

• What it covers: in February 2026 UNOPS reported the kick-off of a "Master Plan, Feasibility Study, Preliminary Engineering Design, and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)" for the new airport, funded under the World Bank's Somalia–Horn of Africa Infrastructure Integration Project (SHIIP). The federal government leads it through the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, with UNOPS as project manager and technical compliance partner.
• The site: UNOPS describes a "20 km² site in the Maaxaay area", "approximately 30 km north of Mogadishu".
• Timing and budget: UNOPS tendered the consultancy in October 2025, with an expected start on 1 January 2026. The SHIIP procurement plan (revised October 2025) estimates the study package at US$2.5M, listed as a direct selection, with a planned completion date of 9 September 2026. UNOPS did not disclose the budget of the consultancy it tendered. The plan's July 2026 revision lists the contract as signed, with the same estimate and planned completion date.
• The funding project: SHIIP (P173119) was approved in September 2022 and was originally due to close on 30 September 2026. The World Bank's implementation report of 10 September 2026 gives a revised closing date of 31 December 2027, after a restructuring approved in March 2026.

The foundation stone and the developer.

• Foundation stone: on 29 June 2025, the state news agency SONNA reported that the President "officially laid the foundation stone for a modern airport, seaport, and other key infrastructure projects in the Haawaay area of the Middle Shabelle region". It gave no cost or timetable.
• The developer's figures: the developer's website gives an investment of "$714M+", "Two 4,000m runways", "100k tons annual cargo capacity" and completion of a first phase in 2029. These are the developer's own undated figures; Xidig has not verified them.
• How the tracks fit: Xidig found no official document explaining whether the developer's project and the World Bank-funded study are the same project, or how they relate. It is also not confirmed whether Maaxaay and Haawaay refer to the same site.

Aden Adde today.

• Operator: the existing airport is run by a private company under a concession. The World Bank's PPP centre published it as a success story in 2019, describing an "amended and restated Concession Agreement on the Management and Upgrade of the Aden Abdulle International Airport, Mogadishu".
• Traffic: Xidig found no official recent passenger or cargo figures.
• Upgrades planned: a World Bank programme approved in May 2026 (P513127, a US$160M grant covering roads as well as airports) planned, in its February 2026 concept note, to "Upgrade facilities at Mogadishu and regional hubs to meet international standards". This suggests the existing airport will continue to be invested in, whatever is decided about a new one.

The wider aviation picture.

• Airspace: in December 2017 Somalia announced that it had taken back management of its airspace, which had been run for 27 years from an ICAO office in Nairobi (IFALPA, 2018). In December 2025 the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation said, in remarks published by the SCAA, that "the world now recognizes Somalia's airspace as Class A".
• The regulator: the World Bank says the SCAA "serves as both regulator and as an Airports Authority".

What this means (Xidig's interpretation). The government's airport proposal reads as a statement of intent rather than a costed project. The feasibility study, the environmental and social assessment and a published traffic forecast will be the first real tests of the plan. The main open questions are land and resettlement at the site, how the new airport would fit with the existing concession, and who would pay.

Dependencies and implementation constraints

• The feasibility study and ESIA, which were not complete when the government's proposal was published.
• Land at a 20 km² site outside the current city.
• Roads linking the site to Mogadishu.
• The existing concession at Aden Adde.
• Finance for a project of several hundred million dollars.
• Security around the site.

Risks and unknowns

• Cost: the published figures differ by up to about US$150M, and none rests on a finished study.
• Resettlement of people living or farming on the site.
• Unclear arrangements between the government, the developer and donors.
• Demand: no published traffic forecast.

Questions members should verify before acting

1. Is the government's proposal the same project as the developer's airport and the World Bank-funded study?
2. When will the feasibility study and ESIA be published, and will there be public consultation?
3. What evidence supports the claims that Aden Adde "cannot expand further" and that the new airport could earn "USD 50 million additional annual revenue"?
4. How would the new airport affect the existing concession?

What is confirmed, and what isn't

Confirmed

• The proposal, its cost and drivers as printed.
• The World Bank-funded study, its scope and site description (UNOPS, 2026).
• The June 2025 foundation stone (SONNA).
• SHIIP's approval and its extension to 31 December 2027.

Our interpretation

• The government's cost figure predates the feasibility study.
• The existing airport will keep receiving investment.

Not yet verified

• The developer's figures and role.
• Who won the study contract, and when the study will be published.
• Current traffic at Aden Adde.
• Land acquisition or resettlement plans.

Relevant next steps

• Follow UNOPS, the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation and the World Bank for the study's findings and any consultation.
• Ask the ministry how its proposal relates to the developer's project.