Italy and Libya have opened a direct flight between the countries for the first time in more than a decade. Flight MT522, flown by Libyan airline Medsky Airways, left Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport and landed at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport on Saturday.
Italy and other Western countries stopped flights from Libya in connection with the uprising in 2011. In the chaos that followed, the country split into two rival regimes. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced in July that the ban would be lifted.
Italy is interested in gas from oil-rich Libya, and has also helped the country’s coast guard to stop migrants from crossing the Mediterranean, something that has drawn sharp criticism from aid and rights groups.
Despite the unrest, Libya has had direct flights to countries such as Egypt and Tunisia and other countries in the Middle East over the years.