By Mustafa Khalifa.
Ghat, 17 June 2015:
Afriqiyah Airways has launched a new service between Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport and the airbase at Tamanhint, . . .[restrict]some 25 kilometres north east of Sebha. It has now been rebranded as Tamanhint International Airport and has a passenger terminal, also officially opened yesterday.
The inaugural flight arrived yesterday with senior Afriqiyah staff on board.
“It’s a major advancement for southern Libya and it will help citizens there travel easily,” the acting mayor of neighbouring Al-Buwanis, Mohamed Ali Hadi, said.
The airport is close not only to Sebha but also to Brak Ashatti and Samnou. Locals in the region have been without air links for more than a year because of the closure of Sebha airport following fighting in the town. There have been several announcements that Sebha would reopen, but there are still intermittent clashes and the airport is not thought safe. The only other oerating airport in the region until now has been Ghat, some 590 kilometres from Sebha.
Tamanhint is controlled by soldiers from Misrata’s Third Force.
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