Misrata International Airport is an international airport serving

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 ...

, a

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

coastal city in the

Misrata District Misrata ( ar, مصراته , Libyan Arabic: ''Məṣrātah''), also spelt ''Misurata'' or ''Misratah'', is a sha'biyah (district) in northwestern Libya. Its capital is the city of Misrata. In 2007 the district was enlarged to include what had bee ...

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 also acts as an

air base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

and training center for the

Libyan Air Force The Libyan Air Force ( ar, القوات الجوية الليبية) is the branch of the Libyan Armed Forces responsible for aerial warfare. In 2010, before the Libyan Civil War, the Libyan Air Force personnel strength was estimated at 18,000 ...

History

The airport was created in 1939 as a small landing site in the Misrata province of

Italian Libya Libya ( it, Libia; ar, ليبيا, Lībyā al-Īṭālīya) was a colony of the Fascist Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica ...

. On 15 December 2011 the airport celebrated its first regularly scheduled international commercial flights by a non-Libyan airline (

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines ( Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları'') is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 340 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, making it the largest mainline carrier in the w ...

). On 14 July 2014, the airport was closed to flights due to clashes at Tripoli International Airport, which Misrata International Airport is dependent on for its operations. Flights resumed on the night of 15 July. On August 3, 2020, a fire destroyed the airport's passenger terminal.

Military use

The

operates the

Soko G-2 The Soko G-2 Galeb ( en, Seagull) is a Yugoslav single engine, two-seater jet trainer and light ground-attack aircraft. The G-2 was developed during the 1950s by the Aeronautical Technical Institute at Žarkovo as a replacement for the Lockhee ...

aircraft extensively at Misrata in both a training and

counterinsurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...

capacity. The first Libyan warplane to challenge the no-fly zone during the

Libyan Civil War Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...

was a G-2 from Misrata. It was reported to have been promptly shot down by the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...

. A few hours later an armed forces spokesman specified that the plane was destroyed on the runway with an

AASM AASM may refer to: * Armement Air-Sol Modulaire, a French precision guided munition * Australian Active Service Medal * American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a professional organization * The Anglo-American School of Moscow The Anglo-American Sch ...

air-to-ground missile just after it had landed.

Airlines and destinations

References

External links

* {{authority control Military installations of Libya Airports in Libya Misrata Tripolitania

History

Military use

Airlines and destinations

See also

References

External links