Embroiled in a civil war that has lasted since the death of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has a small fleet of commercial planes spread across several airlines.
One of them is Berniq Airways, which was founded in 2018 and is based in Benghazi, the country’s second largest city, behind Tripoli.
Berniq has been flying since 2021 with a fleet of six Airbus A320ceo 12 to 14 years old. Its route network comprises some domestic flights, but mainly international destinations in the region such as Tunis, Cairo, Istanbul and Dubai.
Despite the insecure environment in the country, Berniq intends to expand and modernize its aircraft fleet and announced on May 16 an agreement with Airbus for six A320neo family jets.
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The deal has not yet been confirmed by Airbus, but the Libyan airline released images on its social networks showing the moment of the signing of the agreement and also the visit of Berniq representatives to Toulouse, France.
The order also includes A321neo aircraft, but Berniq did not specify the quantity of each variant.
If the agreement is confirmed, it will be the most modern aircraft to fly with Libyan registration plates.
The country’s various airlines currently use very old planes such as the BAe 146/Avro RJ100, Embraer ERJ 145, Bombardier CRJ900, Airbus A330 and even a Boeing 737-300 that is almost 33 years old and belonged to the bankrupt Varig, from Brazil.
