Libyan Wings Airlines Co JSC ( ar, شركة الاجنحة الليبية), or Libyan Wings ( ar, الأجنحة الليبية), is an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

with its head office on the grounds of Mitiga International Airport in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

. It started operations in September 2015 after facing delays because of political instability in Libya. As of January 2020, the airline operates four Airbus A319s to four destinations in Libya,

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

History

In June 2013, ch-aviation reported that Libyan Wings intended to start operations in November of that year. In November 2013, the airline signed a memorandum of understanding with

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

for three

Airbus A350-900 The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 wi ...

s and four

Airbus A320neo The Airbus A320neo family is a development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' for "new engine option") is based on the previous A319, A320 and A321 ( enhanced variant), which was then ren ...

s; the anticipated launch date was shifted to early 2014. In May 2014, Libyan Wings signed to lease two Airbus A319s from a Dubai-based company, planning to begin flights later in the year. However, because of the deteriorating political situation in Libya, the airline had to delay its launch further. While it waited for conditions to improve, Libyan Wings retained its Airbus A319s rather than return them to the lessor, even though this action was costly. In order to obtain its air operator's certificate, the airline had to conduct a proving flight with passengers. Because Tripoli was still unsafe, Libyan Wings operated its proving flight in

with

Libyan Civil Aviation Authority The Libyan Civil Aviation Authority (LYCAA, ar, مصلحة الطيران المدني, previously ar, سلطة الطيران المدني الليبية "Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Civil Aviation Authority") is the civil aviation authority of Libya. ...

officials on board. The airline commenced operations on 21 September 2015 with a flight from

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. Four days later, Turkey required all Libyan citizens to have a visa before entering the country; Libyan Wings had to suspend operations while its passengers traveled to the Turkish consulate in

Misrata Misrata ( ; also spelled Misurata or Misratah; ar, مصراتة, Miṣrāta ) is a city in the Misrata District in northwestern Libya, situated to the east of Tripoli and west of Benghazi on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. With ...

, away, to obtain their visas. Flights to

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

began in October 2015, and Istanbul operations have since resumed. As of October 2016, the memorandum of understanding with Airbus is still in effect, although the order has not been finalised yet.

Corporate affairs

Libyan Wings is headquartered in Tripoli, and its

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

is Mohammed madi. The airline has at least ten investors. As of November 2016, the airline has between 120 and 130 employees. The majority of customers are Libyan citizens and are travelling for business purposes.

Destinations

As of August 2022, Libyan Wings operates scheduled flights to the destinations: ;Libya *

- Mitiga International Airport base *

Misrata International Airport Misrata International Airport is an international airport serving Misrata, a Mediterranean coastal city in the Misrata District of Libya. It also acts as an air base and training center for the Libyan Air Force. History The airport was create ...

Sebha ;Tunisia *

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

- Tunis–Carthage International Airport ;Turkey *

Istanbul Airport Istanbul Airport ( tr, İstanbul Havalimanı, ) is the main international airport serving Istanbul, Turkey. It is located in the Arnavutköy (district), Arnavutköy district on the European side of the city. All scheduled Commercial aviation, ...

Fleet

, Libyan Wings operates the following aircraft:

Notes

References

External links

* {{Airlines of Libya Airlines of Libya Airlines established in 2015 Organizations based in Tripoli, Libya 2015 establishments in Libya Economy of Tripoli, Libya