ITA confirms direct flights between Rome and Tripoli starting on 12 January 2025

Italian carrier ITA Airways confirmed today that its direct scheduled flights between Rome and Tripoli will commence on 12 January 2025. The news was reported by Emiliana Limosani, ITA’s CEO Flight and Chief Commercial Officer.

The Rome Fiumicino – Tripoli Mitiga flight will operate twice a week – every Thursday and Sunday, according to the following schedule:

• Departure from Rome Fiumicino at 9:15 a.m. (local time), arriving in Tripoli Mitiga at 12:10
p.m. (local time)
• Departure from Tripoli Mitiga at 1:05 p.m. (local time), arriving in Rome Fiumicino at 2:10 p.m (local time).

ITA says that tickets for the Rome Fiumicino – Tripoli route are now available through its official sales channels, including the website www.ita-airways.com, the airline’s Customer centre, travel agencies and airport ticket offices.

ITA’s two 2023 flights
It will be recalled that an ITA test flight had landed in Tripoli’s Mitiga’s airport in July 2023 with the Tripoli based Libyan prime minister, Abdel Hamid Aldabaiba, aboard – returning from a meeting in Rome. Another ITA flight landed in Tripoli on 1 October. However, for various factors the flight did not continue to run on a regular schedule.

The EU flight ban on Libyan carriers
It will also be recalled that there is still an EU-wide flight ban on Libyan registered carriers. All flights that have operated have been ‘‘chartered’’ flights operated by EU-registered carriers.

Chartered v scheduled flights
The planned ITA flights will be ‘‘scheduled’’ flight which will appear on ITA’s published schedule for the whole winter season. This means customers can book for months ahead.

Charter flights, for example those currently operated by Medsky or those operated previously by Medavia between Tripoli and Malta, were chartered on a week-by-week basis – subject to obtaining permission to operate the flights.

Other non-EU flights
Other scheduled non-EU flights to and from Libya have been operating, including to Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan.

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