Italy and Libya resume commercial flights after 10-year break, officials say

Tripoli airport announces twice weekly round-trip flights to Rome

Libya's Mitiga International Airport, from where the direct flight to Rome took off on Saturday. AFP

Italy and war-torn Libya resumed commercial flights for the first time in a decade on Saturday, authorities in the Libyan capital said.

Flight MT522, operated by the Libyan carrier Medsky Airways, left Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli for Rome's Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, according to Libyan airport authorities.

A return flight was scheduled to land in Tripoli on Saturday afternoon, according to Mitiga International Airport.

Going forward, there will be one round-trip flight between the Libyan and Italian capitals on both Saturdays and Wednesdays, according to the Mitiga airport announcement.

Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah's government in Tripoli lauded the resumed flights, posting photos on social media of passengers boarding and officials celebrating.

Italy and other western nations banned flights from Libya as the oil-rich nation in North Africa plunged into chaos after a Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

In the disarray that followed, the country split into rival administrations in the east and west, each backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.

Amid the chaos, Libya has had direct flights to limited destinations, including cities in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia, and other Middle Eastern countries, such as Jordan.

In July, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government lifted the country's 10-year ban on civil aviation in Libya. Italian and Libyan authorities agreed that one airline company from each country would operate flights between the two capitals.

Mr Dbeibah subsequently returned from attending a conference on migration in Rome on a chartered flight with a commercial airline.