Dubai: Etihad Airways will begin flying to Tripoli on January 17 next year, the carrier said on Wednesday in a statement, with the Libyan capital becoming the airline's fifth city in North Africa and the 73rd passenger in its worldwide network.
The Abu Dhabi carrier said that the three return flights a week - to be operated by an Airbus A320 aircraft - will depart from Abu Dhabi at 8am on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays with the return service leaving Tripoli at 4:15 pm.
The schedule would provide convenient timings for Abu Dhabi and UAE-based passengers and allow fast and seamless connections across Etihad's broader GCC network, Etihad Airways' chief executive, James Hogan, said in a statement.
He added that the regime change in Tripoli meant there would be "significant point to point traffic and strong demand for flights" to the country as it rebuilds after the civil war.
Initially, the flights will operate via Alexandria in Egypt but Etihad Airways will move to non-stop services as soon as the infrastructure in Tripoli can support them, the carrier stated.
