Khartoum International Airport is poised to reopen for limited domestic flights on Wednesday, Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority said, even as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) warned it would target any aircraft using the facility.
The announcement followed a test operation on Tuesday, when a Badr Airlines flight from Port Sudan landed in the capital, according to Sudan’s Ministry of Media and Culture. The airport—seized by the army from the RSF in March—has previously handled at least two flights carrying Sudan’s military leader, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, this year.
The army said it intercepted RSF-launched drones aimed at the airport at dawn on Tuesday. Hours later, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) threatened further strikes. “Any airplane that takes off from any neighbouring country, any airplane that is dropping supplies, bombing or killing, any drone that takes off from any airport, will be a legitimate target for us,” he said in a video address.
Burhan toured the airport ahead of the restart and pledged to shield civilians from RSF attacks. The Civil Aviation Authority said operations would resume after “necessary operational and technical procedures” were completed, but it remains unclear how many carriers will use the facility in the near term.
Khartoum’s airport is a strategic prize in a war that erupted when the army and the RSF—once allies—split in a struggle for power last year. The military holds the capital but the RSF retains territory in Darfur and other regions. The conflict has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, displaced up to 12 million, and left more than 24 million facing acute food insecurity, U.N. agencies say.
Reopening the airport could restore a fragile domestic air bridge between Port Sudan—where many government functions relocated after fighting gutted Khartoum—and the capital. But the RSF’s threats underscore the risks to aviation and the broader challenges of re-establishing civilian movement and aid corridors amid active hostilities.
Sudanese officials did not immediately provide details on flight schedules or which airlines would operate from Khartoum.
