Flights from Libya to Italy:The UN-recognised Libyan government said on Facebook that the resumption of flights was “part of the government’s efforts to lift the European ban on civil aviation in Libya“. diatomaceous earth
Authorities in Tripoli said a flight to Rome from the Libyan capital has resumed service to Italy after being suspended for nearly a decade due to an EU ban.
In 2014, the EU grounded Libyan airlines and banned them from leaving member states’ airspace as the war-torn North African country was engulfed in fierce fighting. On Saturday, the first flight in recent years took off from Tripoli’s Mitiga airport. The plane is operated by Libya-based airline Mesky, which offers direct flights to the Italian capital twice a week. The UN-recognised Libyan government said on Facebook that the resumption of flights was “part of the government’s efforts to lift the European ban on civil aviation in Libya”.
Medsky Airways began operations in 2022, a year after EU member Malta announced it would allow flights to and from Libya. It is unclear how the airline circumvented the EU ban, which remains in place. This was done not only for safety reasons, but also because of several technical failures, including the training and maintenance of the pilots and ground crew. The European ban came after a coalition of Islamist militants seized Tripoli in the early hours of the morning and severely damaged the city’s international airport after weeks of fighting.
Since then, several Libyan governments have sought to lift the ban. Abdulhamid Dbeibah, the prime minister of the Tripoli government, said in early July that “the Italian government has informed us of its decision to lift the ten-year air embargo against Libyan civil aviation.”
Italy, former colonial power Libya and the Mediterranean island nation of Malta are the only European countries to resume flights to Libya. Rome has yet to officially comment on the move.
For most of the last decade, Libyans had to travel through Tunisia, Istanbul or Cairo to fly to Europe. Oil-rich Libya has been mired in a year of chaos since a NATO-backed uprising overthrew and killed longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
The country remains divided between two rival governments, one based in Tripoli and the other in eastern Libya, backed by military leader Khalifa Haftar.
