Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Libya: Tripoli-Benghazi Commercial Flights to Resume Starting Oct. 23


Sat 17 Oct 2020 | 01:50 PM
H-Tayea

On Saturday, head of the state-owned Libyan Afriqiyah Airways Milad al-Hecrasi, announced that commercial flights between Benina International Airport in Benghazi and Tripoli's Mitiga International Airport will be resumed starting October 23rd.

He added that the first flight landed at Benina international airport" from Tripoli's Mitiga airport on Friday carried a delegation of representatives from the Libyan carrier along with aviation officials, ending an 18-month halt, amid an a easing of tensions between a Tripoli-based administration and rival authorities in the eastern city.

Efforts by GNA chief "Fayez al-Sarraj and deputy premier Ahmed Maiteeq have led to the resumption of flights" between the two airports, the GNA added.

Libya has been torn by civil war since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The two main factions are the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Interim Government in Benghazi allied with the Libyan National Army, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

Hopes for a solution to the crisis have risen after the two warring factions in August separately announced they would cease hostilities. The move was followed by a series of UN-backed talks in Morocco, Egypt and Switzerland, and further dialogue is scheduled for next month.

Commercial flights between Benghazi and Tripoli were suspended not long after Haftar launched a military campaign to take the capital in April 2019.

Flights had only resumed out of Mitiga, the Libyan capital's only working airport, in August, after a shutdown due to the fighting and coronavirus restrictions.

Despite the recent ceasefire announcement, security remains a major concern for Libyan airlines.

Late last month, Afriqiyah Airways suspended links between Tripoli and the southern city of Sebha after pro-Haftar fighters positioned armed vehicles on the runway to prevent flights from landing.