The Libyan government announced today, Sunday, that "Italy has lifted a 10-year ban on the use of Libyan civil aviation in Italian airspace, with flights set to resume starting from September." Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah stated on Twitter: "The Italian government has informed us of its decision to lift the air ban imposed on Libyan civil aviation for 10 years, allowing flights to resume next September. I thank Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and appreciate the efforts of the transport sector and the committee formed for this purpose, as well as everyone who contributed to achieving this breakthrough to facilitate travel for our citizens."
The decision came following a meeting between Libyan and Italian officials and after technical committees from both sides discussed the results of a field visit in May regarding "the inspection of safety measures at Libyan airports." For a long time, flights from Libya had been limited to destinations such as Tunisia, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, and Sudan, due to an EU ban on Libyan civil aviation using its airspace. Currently, there are only a few airlines operating flights to and from Libya, a country that has experienced chaos and conflict for over a decade since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The Libyan government statement indicated that "the authorities in both Libya and Italy agreed to operate flights with one airline from each country."
