The aviation sector in Libya has suffered, since 2011, from losses that exceeded billions, and the government was unable to protect the assets of operating companies and infrastructure that were affected by the wars. Perhaps the most damaging of losses were the those of the Tripoli war in 2014, in which Libya lost the capital’s airport, and a number of aircraft; to the repercussions of the “Coronavirus, which has reduced air traffic since the beginning of 2020.
In light of the scarcity of data on air transport losses in Libya; the memory still retains the report of the State Audit Bureau issued in 2019, which indicated that the losses of the aviation sector in recent years amounted to 1.3 billion dollars.
Despite all the aforementioned negative events; the Government of National Unity succeeded in spreading hope after the return of TunisAir to operate in Libya, after a break that lasted for years.
The Ministries of Economy and Transportation followed this step up by conducting a number of negotiations with the countries of Egypt, Morocco, Malta and Italy; with the aim of returning its planes to fly over Libya, in addition to discussions led by the Minister of Economy, Mohammed Al-Huweij, for the return of the United Kingdom’s aviation and the easing of European sanctions regarding the imposition of a flight ban on all Libyan airlines, as the civil aviation authorities of the European Union renewed, in 2018, the flight ban from Libya towards European Union; due to the lack of safety grounds, it was thus prevented from entering European airspace.
In the latest move towards lifting the ban; The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Communications for Aviation and Air Transport Affairs, Khaled Souissi, discussed, a few days ago, with his administration; the possibility of benefiting from the global “ICAO” program aimed at auditing air safety, with an emphasis on the need to use international experts; to develop the aviation sector in Libya.
