São Paulo – Libya, an Arab country which experienced social protests and a change of government last year, has resumed activities at eight regional airports, according to the African news agency Panapress. Alongside with the measure, the country will also start to renovate airports.
The Libyan government has announced that the monopoly of air traffic, which took place at two of the country’s leading airports before the ousting of president Muamar Kadafi, will cease to exist. All Libyan airports will be autonomous, according to government spokesperson Nasser Al-Mana, and all will be allowed to operate domestic and international flights.
Forecasted investment in the industry includes construction of two passenger halls at the Benghazi and Misrata airports. Next week, an agreement will be signed with the South Korean company Nemo to carry out the project.
The Libyan Ministry of Transports is also completing formal procedures to import passenger and baggage detection devices, which most of the airports did not have, and orders have been placed for fire trucks.
There are 144 airports in Libya, according to the CIA website, but only 64 have paved runways. There are also two heliports and 100,000 kilometres of roads. Of these, 57,200 kilometres are paved.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
