Algeria freezes flights to Libya
الشروق أونلاين
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Photo: archive
Algerian Civil Air Navigation Services decided to suspend the Algerian flights between Algiers and Tripoli, as from Friday, after relaunching the airline between the two capitals on March 2015.
A statement by the Transport Ministry said: “After sending a notification to the Libyan authorities and the Libyan Air Navigation Company “Libyan Airlines”, the Algerian Civil Air Navigation Services decided to suspend the Algiers-Tripoli flights starting from Friday, January 29, 2016, until further notice.
Boudjemaa Talei’s Ministry Services did not explain the causes of freezing the airline, but indications said that this is a pure security issue.
Transport Ministry’s decision came after other measures that were taken to restrict the travel procedures, and the first was to prevent Libyan citizens who have old passports “green” – thar were issued in the era of Gaddafi- from entering Algeria, and this was in the beginning of last Thursday.
Spokesman of Mitiga International Airport, Fawzi Miladi, previously said; “Number of passengers on board of a Libyan Airlines’ plane from Mitiga Airport to Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers, were prevented, on Thursday, from entering Algeria; because they have the old green passports”.
Then Algeria directly prevented 270 Moroccans, from travelling to Libya via Houari Boumediene Airport, for “security reasons”, and those who were preventing, according to the Foreign Ministry statement, do not possess residence permits or work contracts in Libya, then the Ambassador of Morocco was notified about this procedure, after a meeting with the Minister Abdelkader Messahel.
Security sources reported that the people who were prevented from travelling to Libya are suspected of involvement in ISIS, and a Moroccan tourist agency which has links with terrorist organizations carried out the process of transferring them to Libya.
For information, Libyan Airlines returned to operate flights to Algiers last March, at a rate of twice-weekly -Saturdays and Tuesdays – and an official source in the company told Echorouk, that the flights were filled by about 70%, and the majority were Libyans, then Moroccans, as the Libyans use Algeria as a transit area, either for treatment due the low prices compared to Tunisia, or to move to Europe, as it is almost their only destination out of Libya, in light of the reluctance of foreign companies to organize flights to Libya, with the exception of Turkish Airlines, and Libyan companies, like Libya Airlines, Buraq and Afriqiyah Airways and Ajniha, which is owned by Abdul Hakim Belhadj, operate in domestic flights to Tunisia, Turkey and Sudan only.
