Afriqiyah Airways to arrive Manila September 19

Attributes Financing Glitch for Delay.

August 18, 2009

Photo: Captain Sabri Shadi, CEO of LAA Holdings, during the delivery ceremony of the A330.

Tripoli- Aircraft Financing glitches caused Afriqiyah Airways delayed maiden flight to the Philippines which was announced to arrive in July 17, 2009, but was re-scheduled back to its original arrival date.

Captain Sabri Shadi, CEO of Libyan-African Aviation Holding, the Company that controls Afriqiyah Airways, said that they just received its first Airbus 330-200 on August 10 after funding assistance from government banks which agreed to finance three (3) out of the six (6) aircraft orders.

Shadi said that they encountered finding funding for its twenty three (23) aircraft orders which resulted to delivery deferrals. He said that at first, Libyan Banks were reluctant to finance their massive orders until they agreed to scale it down thereby reducing orders to only three 330's.

"This is the first kind of this aircraft to be delivered to Afriqiyah Airways. We ordered three of them and we will receive the second one sometime in September and the third one will be delivered at the end of October. We will also receive other three (3) A319, smaller than the A330 on the18th of August," said Eng. Rammah Ettir, Afriqiyah Airways' Chief Executive Officer.

The new A330 will seat 230 passengers in a two-class cabin and will serve long-haul operations on routes from Tripoli to Africa and Europe and later on to the Far East of Asia.

The first A330 will start serving London, Paris, Lagos and Accra within the next six week. It will then fly to Johannesburg and Cape Town on the 4th of Sept 2009 while its second A330 will fly on September 19 to Manila and the third A330 to Beijing on October 28.

"Afriqiyah Airways has achieved impressive growth since it first entered the market in 2001, and we are very proud to have been their partner during this time, " said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer.

"The A330 has unbeatable economic efficiency and will enable Afriqiyah’s continued expansion. We look forward to continuing our partnership.” said Mr. Leahy at the handing over ceremony of the aircraft at the premises of Maitiga Airport.

Afriqiyah Airways delivery of its first Airbus A330 is considered a milestone in the history of Libya's aviation since it is the first large aircraft of its kind to be delivered in Libya. It is also a major step forward of the company's long haul operations after its establishment in 2001.

Afriqiyah Airways arrives earlier than expected

Introduces first flight to Dhaka and Libya!

Flies its second A330 to Manila on July 17
March 13, 2009

Tripoli- Libyan Airline, Afriqiyah Airways, can no longer afford to wait its aircraft delivery as it fast tracked its launch date for Manila service by introducing flight as early as July 17 this year.

The twice weekly flight was supposed to start in September with the arrival of the third A330 as it hopes to fly 4 flights per week direct, but the need for skilled migrant workers from the Philippines for Libya's reconstruction necessitated its expediency said Capt. Sabri Shadi, Afriqiyah Airways President and Chairman.

Manila will be the second long distance route after Johannesburg that will be served by its first A330. It will now have a stop over in Dhaka after it was initially announced to have a stop over in Dubai with the hope of transporting Filipino OFW home. The airline has 5th freedom rights to fly Filipinos out of Dubai. It will eventually fly direct when the third arrive in September.

Filipino workers have been listed as “priority recruits” for a $765-million (about P40 billion) construction project in Tripoli following a bilateral agreement signed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Libyan leader Muammar Gadafi in 2006.

There are more than 8,000 legally documented migrant workers in Libya according to DFA working in the construction, medical, and tourism sectors. Official estimates for undocumented ones could easily reach 40,000 as of 2009.

A new Bilateral Air Services Agreement has been negotiated recently between CAB and its Civil Aviation counterpart in Libya paving the way for its flight service.

The first new route to be inaugurated will be Tripoli to Johannesburg where there will be two flights per week and then it will go to Manila afterwards. The next cities to see the new A330 will be thrice-weekly service to both Brazzaville and Kinshasa starting Sept. 7 and three weekly flights to both Beijing and Guangzhou will begin in Oct. 3.

Afriqiyah will take delivery of its first A330-200 in May for routes to Europe particularly London and Paris in June 3 and for Manila and Johannesburg on the second aircraft. Its GE's CF6-80E1 powered engine Airbus A330 aircraft will arrive in the last week of May 2009.

The airline currently operates an all Airbus fleet of A319/320’s and A340. Afriqiyah Airways is 100 percent controlled by the Libyan government.