GACA: Sudan president's plane wasn’t authorized to enter Saudi airspace

Sudanese President Omar Bashir's plane was barred from entering the country’s airspace this week while on a flight to Iran because it did not have the right permit, said Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Civil Aviation.
“The government of Sudan did not submit an official application for a diplomatic permit for the plane,” the SPA cited a GACA official as saying late Monday. “Under internationally recognized procedures, a permit should be applied for 48 hours before departure of diplomatic flights.”
This was the only reason the plane was turned back, the GACA official said in a statement, countering suggestions the move was linked to international arrest warrants out for Bashir or to his country's ties with Tehran.
The aircraft carrying Bashir to attend the swearing-in of Iran's new President Hassan Rowhani in Tehran on Sunday had to return after being refused permission to cross Saudi airspace.
Sudanese presidential press secretary Emad Sayed Ahmed had said that Bashir was not flying in his normal presidential aircraft but was using a plane rented from a Saudi company.
Ahmed said that when Bashir's plane entered Saudi airspace the pilot informed authorities that it had approval and that it was carrying Sudan's president. “But they said the plane didn't have permission,” he added.