Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni informed head of the Libyan Government of National Unity Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah on Sunday that Italy has lifted its 10-year ban on Libyan civil aviation over Italian airspace, according to a statement.
It's being reported that the direct Flights are scheduled to resume in September, the statement added.
The lifting of 10-year ban is aimed at reopening of direct Libya-Italy flights , seen as a common interest, that was addressed in the meeting between the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity (GUN), Abdulhamid Dabaiba, and the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, Tripoli.
As established by the relevant ICAO Regional Air Navigation Agreements, The Italian FIRs are Brindisi UIR/FIR, Milan UIR/FIR and Rome UIR/FIR . Italian UIRs/FIRs are surrounded by UIRs/FIRs of 10 States, namely France (Marseille), Switzerland (Genève, Zurich), Austria (Wien), Slovenia (Ljubljana), Croatia (Zagreb), Serbia (Belgrade), Albania (Tirana), Greece (Athens), Malta (Malta) and Tunisia (Tunis) which is a non-ECAC bordering state. Source : Eurocontrol.
There were, however, various difficulties in establishing direct connections between Italy and Libya. The first obstacle is the Italian Notam (notice to airmen) of 2018, which prevents overflights of Libyan airspace and direct flights between Italy and Libya for security reasons, decided by the Ministry of the Interior and applied by ENAC in a manner comparable to other countries European and Western.
Added to this problem was the fact that the Europe had banned on landing and overflight by Libyan airlines for safety reasons, imposed in 2014 and reaffirmed in January 2022 by the European authorities.
Earlier , Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had conveyed Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, her counterpart in Libya, that Italian authorities consider political stability in Libya “a priority for Italy’s national security,”
