Alitalia to restart flights to Tripoli

Italian flag carrier Alitalia said on Friday it would resume regular flights to the Libyan capital on November 02, eight months after they were halted by the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.Alitalia will resume its flights between Rome and Tripoli from November 02, the date when the authorities estimate that operations and security conditions at the airport will be entirely re-established, the company said in a statement released in Tripoli during a visit by Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

Aerial links are an important indicator of diplomatic relations between states, because they contribute to building mutual confidence and consolidating political, economic, social and cultural processes, said Alitalia director of institutional relations Guido Improta, who was travelling with Frattini.The statement said the company would operate five return flights a week between Rome and Tripoli.Most airlines suspended flights in and out of Libya after the February outbreak of the uprising that toppled Gaddafi.Alitalia had been operating two flights a day to Tripoli before it suspended its operations in the country on February 24.Italy is Libya's biggest trade partner and it ruled the country between 1911 and 1942.