By Sami Zaptia.
London, 30 September 2019:
After a lengthy closure, Tobruk airport announced yesterday that it was reopening for domestic and international flights.
The airport revealed that Afriqiyah Airlines had agreed to operate 2 flights a week to Tunis, with other flights planned.
It will be recalled that one of the main obstacles to the closure of the airport had been the maintenance needed by its runway. Airliners had called for cracks in the runway to be fixed but the airport did not get any funding from the Ministry of Transport.
In the end, the local community decided to appeal to a local company for financial support and the airport’s management carried out the runway maintenance themselves.
In July the airport was able to fly pilgrims to Mecca and receive them on their return in August, but none of the airliners had agreed to operate regular flights yet until this month.
The airport has expansion plans for the apron, light towers, cargo warehouse and the departures and arrivals terminals.
It must also be kept in mind that with the international flight ban into Libya still valid, Libyan airliners are short on aircraft, struggling to cope with the volume of passengers to and from the main urban coastal centres such as Tripoli (currently closed), Misrata and Benghazi, let alone cover all of Libya’s regional airports.
