Tripoli Receives First Flight from Italy after 10-year Hiatus

The Italian airline ITA and the transport minister in Tripoli announced that the company resumed direct flights to Tripoli in Libya on Sunday, becoming the first airline from a major western European country to do so after a 10-year hiatus due to the civil war in Libya.

The Italian airline said it would operate two direct flights per week from Rome's Fiumicino airport to Tripoli's Mitiga airport.

The company's general manager Andrea Benassi said in a statement: "We are proud to launch the first direct commercial flight between Tripoli and Rome's Fiumicino airport today, to strengthen commercial and cultural relations between Libya and Italy and to support bilateral relations between the two countries," according to Reuters.

Many international airlines have suspended flights to and from Libya since the civil war broke out in 2014, which led to rival administrations in the east and west following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Some airlines resumed flights to Libya after security was restored when major fighting ended with a ceasefire in 2020. But efforts to end the political crisis have failed, with factions sometimes engaging in armed clashes and competing for control of economic resources.

The European Union still bans Libyan civil aviation from its airspace.

Mohammed al-Shahubi, the transport minister in the Government of National Accord, said the resumption of Alitalia flights between Tripoli and Rome confirmed “the security and safety of our airspace and the competence of Libyan airports.”

Al-Shahubi added at a ceremony to mark the arrival of the Alitalia flight at Mitiga airport that Tripoli was ready “to grant ITA additional traffic rights to connect Libyan airports with other destinations in the European Union.”

He pointed out that Libya is looking forward to the return of Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways and Saudi Airlines in the first half of 2025.

He explained that airlines from Tunisia, Egypt, Malta, Turkey and Jordan have already resumed direct flights to Libya.

The Libyan route constitutes a strategic bridge between the two countries, said Ivan Basato, chief aviation officer at Rome Airports, adding that the flights will strengthen “the position of our hub to support the connectivity of Africa, a continent that in 2024 reached a record level of more than two million passengers to and from Rome, an increase of 38% compared to the previous year.”