Libyan Wings Airlines Co JSC (), or Libyan Wings (), is an

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

with its head office on the grounds of ben ashour in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. It started operations in September 2015 after facing delays because of

political instability Political decay is a political theory, originally described in 1965 by Samuel P. Huntington, which describes how chaos and disorder can arise from social modernization increasing more rapidly than political and institutional modernization. Huntin ...

in Libya. As of January 2020, the airline operates four

Airbus A319 The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a maximum range of . Final ass ...

s to four destinations in Libya,

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It is banned from flying into the EU.

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 Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

for three

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

s and four

Airbus A320neo The Airbus A320neo family is an incremental development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' being Greek for "new", as well as an acronym for "new engine option") is based on the Airbus A3 ...

s; the anticipated launch date was shifted to early 2014. In May 2014, Libyan Wings signed to lease two

s 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 An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial air transport purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and s ...

, 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, , previously "Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Civil Aviation Authority") is the civil aviation authority of Libya. Its head office is at Tripoli International Airport in Tripoli. It also serves as the aircraft ...

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

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. 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 ( ; , Libyan Arabic: ; also spelled Misratah and known by the Italian spelling Misurata) is a city in northwestern Libya located in the Misrata District, situated to the east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. ...

, away, to obtain their visas. Flights to

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

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 chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

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:

Interline agreements

* Hahn Air

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