Amid safety concerns after the Libyan Air Force bombed the Misrata airport in early January, Turkish Airlines Cargo is no longer serving Misrata after previously pulling out of Tripoli. Passenger service had already been suspended. Turkish was the last non-domestic carrier flying in and out of Libya, so for now there is no service to the beleaguered country.
The concern with freighters lies with the suspicion that they may be carrying weapons. The Telegraph reported that Misrata may have been targeted because of rumors that Libya Dawn, an umbrella group of Islamist militants, was attempting to upgrade its aerial firepower by repairing old jet fighters used by the regime of slain dictator Muammer Qaddafi.
An oil-rich country with a civil war raging since Qaddafi’s death in 2011, it remains to be seen how cargo will flow in and out of the country. The Loadstar reports that Libyan-bound cargo will be rerouted by ship.