Italy and Libya resume commercial flights after 10-year hiatus, officials say

CAIRO (AP) — Libyan authorities say commercial flights to and from Italy have resumed for the first time in a decade. Flight MT522, operated by the Libyan carrier Medsky Airways, departed Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli for Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport on Saturday morning. Air authorities in Libya say a return flight is scheduled to land in Tripoli in the afternoon. According to the Mitiga airport announcement, there will be round-trip flights between the Libyan and Italian capitals on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Italy and other western nations banned flights from Libya as the oil-rich nation in North Africa plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.