Misrata International Airport is an international airport serving

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. ...

, 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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coastal city in the

Misrata District Misrata or Misratah (, Libyan Arabic: ), also known by the Italian spelling Misurata, 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 been the Bani Walid ...

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 also acts as an

air base An airbase (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a mi ...

and training center for the

Libyan Air Force The Libyan Air Force () 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, with an inventory of 374 combat-capable ai ...

History

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

Italian Libya Libya (; ) was a colony of Fascist Italy (1922–1943), 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, Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitan ...

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

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları''), or legally Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı, is the flag carrier of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 352 destinations (including cargo) in Europe, Asia, Oce ...

). 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 3 August 2020, a fire destroyed the airport's passenger terminal.

Military use

The

operates the Soko G-2 aircraft extensively at Misrata in both a training and

counterinsurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) 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 ac ...

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, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. All figures are from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks ...

was a G-2 taking off from Misrata on March 24, 2011. It was reported to have been promptly shot down by the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

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

AASM AASM may refer to: * American Academy of Sleep Medicine * Anglo-American School of Moscow * Armement Air-Sol Modulaire, a French munition * Australian Active Service Medal {{disambig ...

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

Airlines and destinations

Passengers

Cargo

References

External links

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