Tripoli International Airport (Arabic: مطار طرابلس العالمي) serves Tripoli, Libya. It is operated by the Civil Aviation and Meteorology Bureau of Libya and is the nation's largest airport. Located in the town of Ben Ghashir 34km south of the city centre, Tripoli International is a hub for Libyan Airlines. The airport is also a hub for Afriqiyah Airways and Buraq Air.

Most flights leave Tripoli International Airport from the main International Passenger Terminal, while domestic flights leave through the National Terminal. The terminal capacity is 3 million passengers a year. In 2007, the airport handled 2.1 million passengers.

Transport to and from Tripoli city center usually involves taking a taxi or shared taxi. Tour operators offer coaches to and from the airport connecting it with numerous hotels in the city centre.

History

During the Second World War the airfield was used by the British Royal Air Force and was named RAF Castel Benito later changing to RAF Idris in 1952. In the 50s and 60s the airport was named Tripoli Idris International Airport. The airport was renovated for national and international air travel in September 1978. The existing international terminal was designed and built from a masterplan developed by Alexander Gibb.

Facilities

There is one main passenger terminal in Tripoli International Airport that serves international departures and arrivals and a smaller domestic terminal for national flights. Check in and arrival facilities for domestic flights are through the domestic terminal whilst international check in and arrival is facilitated in the much larger international terminal. The international terminal hall is a five story building with an area of 33,000 square meters, and is capable of handling 3 million passengers annually. Check-in facilities are all located on the ground floor. The departure gates are located on the floor above as is the duty free section. Beside this is a prayer room and a first class lounge which serves business class and above on almost all airlines operating from the airport. The airport operates 24 hours a day. There is no overnight accommodation in the airport but there are plans to build an airport hotel to serve transit flyers. A restaurant can be found on the fourth floor of the international terminal.

Until recently all domestic departures and arrivals were routed through the same terminal. The domestic terminal was reopened in recent years however after a large maintenance project to upgrade facilities. The main concourse contains national airline desks, check in facilities and a restaurant. There is one large departure hall that serves all departing passenger and a small hall with two baggage belts for arriving passengers. Outside the terminal there are white microbuses that transport passengers to and from both terminals free of charge. Some airlines such as Afriqiyah Airways operate their own buses that connect passengers between the terminals.

Cargo handling facilities at Tripoli International include cranes, heavy fork lifts, roller pallet lifts and conveyor belts. There is twenty four hour fire protection at the airport with 112 trained personnel working at the fire station.

Future plans

Airport Expansion

In September 2007, the Libyan government announced a project to upgrade and expand Tripoli International. The eventual total cost of the project, contracted to a joint venture between Brazil's Odebrecht, TAF Construction of Turkey, Consolidated Contractors Company of Lebanon and Vinci Construction of France, is LD2.54 billion ($2.1 billion). The project is to construct two new terminals at the airport (an East Terminal and a West Terminal) on either side of the existing International Terminal. Each of the new terminals will be 162,000 square-meters in size, and collectively they will have a capacity of 20 million passengers and a parking lot for 4,400 vehicles. French company Aéroports de Paris designed the terminals, which are expected to serve 100 airplanes simultaneously. Work started last October on the first new terminal and new runway. The initial capacity will be 6 million passengers when the first module comes into operation in September 2009. Preparation is also underway for the second new terminal, which will eventually bring the total capacity to 20 million passengers; the completed airport is expected to strengthen Libya's position as an African aviation hub. Development of airports in tourist destinations such as Ghat and Ghadames has also started, and there are major expansion plans for airports in Sebha and Benghazi.

Airlines and destinations

International Terminal

• Afriqiyah Airways (Abidjan, Accra, Amsterdam, Bamako, Bangui, Brussels, Cairo, Cotonou, Dakar, Douala, Dubai, Düsseldorf , Geneva, Khartoum, Lagos, Lomé, London-Gatwick, N'Djamena, Niamey, Ouagadougou, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino)
• Air Algérie (Algiers)
• Air Malta (Luqa)
• Alitalia (Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino)
• Austrian Airlines (Vienna)
• British Airways (London-Heathrow)
• Bulgaria Air (Sofia)
• Buraq Air (Aleppo, Alexandria, Cairo, Istanbul-Atatürk, Rabat)
• EgyptAir (Cairo)
• Emirates (Dubai, Tunis)
• Ghadames Air Transport (Sarajevo)
• Iberia Airlines (Madrid) [begins 2009]
• Jat Airways (Belgrade) [ends October 25, 2008]
• KLM (Amsterdam)
• Libyan Airlines (Alexandria, Algiers, Amman, Cairo, Casablanca, Damascus, Dubai, Istanbul-Atatürk, Jeddah, Kiev, London-Heathrow, Malta, Manchester, Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino, Sfax, Tunis)
• Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
• Qatar Airways (Casablanca, Doha)
• Royal Air Maroc (Casablanca)
• Royal Jordanian (Amman)
• Sevenair (Sfax)
• Sudan Airways (Khartoum)
• Swiss International Air Lines (Zürich)
• Syrian Arab Airlines (Casablanca, Damascus)
• Tunisair (Tunis)
• Turkish Airlines (Istanbul-Atatürk)

Domestic Terminal

• Afriqiyah Airways (Benghazi)
• Air Libya
• Air One Nine (Benghazi, Sebha)
• Alajnihah Airways (Benghazi)
• Buraq Air (Benhghazi, Sebha)
• Libyan Airlines (Beida, Benghazi, Ghadames, Ghat, Sebha, Sirte, Tobruk)

Previous Airlines

• blu-express (Rome-Fiumicino)
• Korean Air (Seoul-Gimpo)
• LOT Polish Airlines (Warsaw)
• Pakistan International Airlines (Karachi, Lahore)

References

External links

• Image of completed airport with new terminals
• Image of Masterplan showing new terminals and new runway
• Libyan Civil Aviation Authority