The Italian airline ITA Airways has today resumed direct flights to Tripoli after a 10-year hiatus due to the civil war in northern Libya, the Italian airline and the Minister of Transport announced from Tripoli.

Italy is the first major European country to resume flights with Libya, which was announced late last year.

The company announced that it will have two direct flights a week from Rome's Fiumicino Airport to Mitigi Airport in Tripoli.

Many international airlines have suspended flights to and from Libya since the outbreak of civil war in 2014 between two rival administrations in the east and west of the country.

The war erupted after an uprising that toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Some airlines resumed flights to Libya after security was restored after 2020 and the cessation of major fighting. But efforts to end the political crisis are failing, and armed conflicts occasionally erupt between rival factions over control of resources.

The EU still does not allow Libyan civilian aircraft into its airspace. The Minister of Transport of the Government of National Unity in Tripoli, Muhammad al-Shahubi, said that the planes of companies from Tunisia, Egypt, Malta, Turkey and Jordan have already resumed direct flights to Libya.