By Houda Mzioudet.
Tunis, 9 June 2016:
Libyan air carriers resumed flights to Tunis-Carthage Airport today after a break of almost six months.
There . . .[restrict]will be six flights a day during Ramadan between Tunis and Libyan airports and nine a day after Ramadan, Sami Thabet, a communications official of Tunisian Civil Aviation Authority (OACA), told the Libya Herald.
The number of flights could further increase, Thabet said.
Mitiga airport’s Facebook page confirmed the restart of services, saying that a Libya Airlines flight had left just after midday for Tunis-Carthage.
Tunisia banned Libyan carriers from flying to all airports in Tunis apart from Sfax in December last year citing “security concerns” after a terrorist attack on a bus in Tunis killing security guards. It then partially relaxed the ban, allowing Libyan carriers to fly to any airport except Tunis-Carthage, continuing to cite security concerns. Last month, following negotiations between Libyan Presidency Council leader Faiez Serraz and the Tunisian government, both the Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi and his prime minister, Habib Essid, were reported promising the ban would be ended by the end of May. It did not happen.
The decision to finally lift it came after protracted negotiations between the Tunisian ministry of transport and Libyan authorities, with the former suggesting that Libyan carriers fly to Terminal of Tunis-Carthage airport, a suggestion rejected by the Libyans who insisted on using the main terminal of Tunisia’s main airport. [/restrict]
