December 07 is the International Civil Aviation Day as approved by the United Nations to raise awareness about its importance in social and economic development to all countries around the world.
In Libya, the day is marked a bit differently as civil airports continue to be targeted due to war. Tripoli International Airport, after news about finishing most of its maintenance work last year, is now a military operations spot and has been so for the last few months, let alone Mitiga Airport that has been a constant target of military attacks along with its planes.
This is coupled with the inter-Libyan conflict between Airport of Misrata and Aviation Authority at the Interim Government as a plane landed in Misrata Airport for maintenance and was held there by the authorities.
The escalation reached calls by the Interim Government on the aircraft heading to Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia from western Libya to land in eastern region’s airports for security reasons, which was rendered by the Tripoli Aviation Authority as waste of fuel and delay of passengers’ business. The dispute ended with suspending the flights to those three destinations.
As the world celebrates the International Civil Aviation Day 2019, Libya’s aviation sector continues to be fragmented and the Libyan people are the ones who are bearing the consequences.
