By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli, 21 May 2015:
Afriqiyah Airways is to resume direct European flights when it restarts a service between Tripoli’s . . .[restrict]Mitiga airport and Dusseldorf.
The airline’s chairman Abubaker Elfortia has confirmed to the Libya Herald that his airline would be resuming a service between Tripoli and the German industrial town “within ten days to two weeks”.
Though he was not ready to reveal many details of the new service, Elfortia did confirm that flights would initially be twice-weekly. They would avoid the EU flight ban on Libyan aircraft by wet-leasing Georgian Airbus A320s.
Afriqiyah has been notable for its innovative work-arounds in the face of collapsing security and administration within Libya. Initially it tackled EU airspace restrictions by wet-leasing aircraft from countries such as Moldova and Spain. However it appeared to have hit upon an ideal solution when it began to re-register three of its aircraft in Ireland. The “Irish” Afriqiyah-owned aircraft were able to operate legally with the EU, slashing the far higher cost of wet-leasing aircraft and flight crew from other carriers.
This project collapsed when its Irish partner ran into insurance problems flying into Libyan airports.
Elfortia told this newspaper that once the Dusseldorf flights were re-established with wet-leased aircraft, the airline would be looking to resume its Rome and London connections. He made no mention of the abandoned Paris service.
The Afriqiyah boss also denied reports that there had been a change at the top of his company. [/restrict]
