By Ashraf Abdul Wahab
Tripoli, 16 August 2013:
Tripoli International Airport is to close for runway repairs in six weeks time. A senior . . .[restrict]source at the Ministry of Transport said this evening that the work will take three months. During that time all domestic and international flights will move to the military airbase at Mitiga on the eastern side of the city.
Tripoli International has a 3,600 metre concrete and asphalt main runway. Mitiga’s ashpalt runway in 3,360 metres long. The Ministry of Transport source gave no indication of who will be undertaking the runway maintenance nor the cost of the project.
At the moment the only civilian carrier using Mitiga is Buraq Air. Libyan Airlines is planning to relocate some operations there but the move is not planned until sometime next year. An official from one foreign airline, who asked not to be named, told the Libya Herald that this was the first that he had heard about the repair work.
It was not possible this evening to contact anyone from the Airports Authority nor the Civil Aviation Authority to confirm the plan and what arrangements for the switch-over are in hand. [/restrict]
