ALBAWABA - Flights between Libya and Italy have resumed today, Saturday, after a hiatus of nearly 10 years, despite the European ban on Libyan airlines, according to journalists from "France Press" and Libyan authorities.
Today, a plane operated by the Libyan private company MedSky took off from Mitiga Airport in Tripoli to Fiumicino Airport in Rome. The company, which began operations in 2022, will provide two weekly flights to Rome on Saturdays and Wednesdays.
The government based in Tripoli, recognized by the United Nations, stated on its Facebook page that the resumption of flights is part of "intensive government efforts to lift the European ban imposed on Libyan civil aviation."
With this development, Italy becomes the second European country, after Malta, to have a direct air link with Libya, despite Libyan airlines being blacklisted since 2014 from flying over European Union airspace.
Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the head of the government based in Tripoli, announced in early July that Italy had informed Libyan authorities of its decision to lift the air ban imposed on Libyan civil aviation for the past 10 years.
Libya has been divided since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, with two competing governments: one in Tripoli led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, recognized by the United Nations, and the other in the east led by Osama al-Hamdani, supported by the parliament and General Khalifa Haftar.
In 2014, an alliance of Islamist militias called "Libyan Dawn" took control of the capital after weeks of fighting and the near-total destruction of Tripoli International Airport.
Since then, European countries suspended their flights to Libya, banned Libyan planes from landing, and closed their airspace to Libyan airlines for security reasons.
For over 10 years, successive Libyan governments have attempted, without success, to lift this ban.
To travel to Europe, Libyans were forced to transit through Tunisia, Istanbul, or Cairo.
