Aviation in Libya has become an unsteady affair since the 2011 uprising due to worker strikes, lax airport security, higher ticket prices and debts.
Alongside the controversy that recently rose on raising ticket prices, Libyan aviation is expected to witness another crisis as workers at Mitiga Airport in Tripoli has organized strikes.
The workers have called for putting resolution 66 and 67 into action to incorporate Libyan African Aviation Holding Company.
The strikes will disrupt airport flights and cause congestion at international airports, particularly that the airport has been closed several times before. The latest closure was in September and flights were rerouted due to a series of overnight rocket attacks on Tripoli by the Islamic State (IS).
The airport’s administration advised airlines to suspend their flights as the strikes would hinder issuing permits for pilots, air hostess, and any additional flights.
Meanwhile, spokesman of Afriqiyah Airways Imran Zabadi told 218 news that Afriqiyah Airways will resume its flights to Turkey starting from Sunday with six flights per week.
As part of the crisis facing Libyan aviation, Afriqiyah Airways has suspended air flights to Turkey due to the accumulated debts of the company in Istanbul, which are estimated at €400,000; hence, the flights to Turkey declined and were eventually suspended, Zabadi said in a press statement in early October.
Afriqiyah Airways held the Central Bank of Libya responsible for the status of the airways by refusing to transfer foreign currency to repay its debts.
However, no details have been mentioned on whether the company could repay their debts to resume flights.
As for increasing the prices of flight tickets, Libyan Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways have decided to increase their prices threefold starting from December. The decision was widely criticized by Libyan citizens who considered the increase in ticket prices exaggerated in the light of the shortage of liquidity and the high exchange rate of the dollar.
Since 2011, several aircrafts of Afriqiyah have been destroyed as Afriqiyah lost one aircraft during the 2011 uprising against Muammar Qaddafi, and two others during the 2014 assault by IS on Tripoli and Mitiga airports. Several other planes are awaiting repairs after that assault.
Further, security of Libyan airports have become lax amid the country’s civil war, with power-brokers in the east and west.
In 2012, Europe banned all Libyans airlines from entering its airspace.
