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Libya Herald Reporters.
Tripoli, 13 July 2014:
There were unconfirmed reports this evening that two Afriqiyah Airways planes were hit in the fighting . . .[restrict]at Tripoli International Airport and that one of them, a $250 million Airbus A330 has been damaged beyond repair.
A respected and normally reliable source on social media claimed tonight that a new Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330, which was parked up on the apron, was hit in the underbelly, as fighting raged around the airport. The tail section has also sustained multiple bullet hits. Engineers are apparently saying that the damage seems so severe, the aircraft may have to be written off.
An A320 from the same airline is also said to have been damaged, though less severely.
In addition, there were reports, that cannot yet be verified, that all airspace in Western Libya, including that over Misrata, has been closed by Air Traffic Controllers in Malta until Wednesday and that, as a result, the only functioning main airport in the country is now that at Labraq, near Beida. Earlier today it was announced that some flights had been rerouted to Misrata.
For a period this March, after rockets were fired at Tripoli airport, Afriqiyah Airways flew all its aircraft for overnight parking at Misrata. [/restrict]
