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Airlines maybe moaning about the rising costs of maintenance, but spare a thought for the poor carriers hit by last year’s Battle of Tripoli Airport. The Loadstar’s intrepid reporter in Libya has sent back these images, revealing the scale of the damage, with Afriqiyah Airlines and Libyan Airlines badly affected. The pictures show engineers trying to do temporary repairs on bullet holes in fuselages, before the aircraft are flown on to Europe for full-scale repairs. The airport itself is not looking in great shape either. What’s more, 11 aircraft are reportedly missing completely.

Tripoli Airport

A Libyan Airlines Airbus A320, its tail blown to pieces

 

Tripoli Airport

The ATC tower

 

Many of Libya's unused planes were also destroyed

Many of Libya’s unused planes were also destroyed

 

An ex-aircraft

An ex-aircraft

 

Damage awaiting temporary repairs

Damage awaiting temporary repairs

 

Tripoli Airport

Every green square indicates a bullet hole covered with a temporary repair

 

An engineer makes a temporary fix over a hole made by flying shrapnel

An engineer makes a temporary fix over a hole made by flying shrapnel

 

Fixing bullet holes on an Afriqiyah Airbus A319

Fixing bullet holes on an Afriqiyah Airbus A319

 

From the frontline

From the frontline

 

Shell casings litter the carcass of a burnt-out plane

Shell casings litter the carcass of a burnt-out plane

 

Terminal clearance

Terminal clearance

 

Former terminal building - clearance has started

Former terminal building – clearance has started

 

Abandoned luggage

Abandoned luggage

 

Tripoli Airport

And more…

 

Passport control

Passport control

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  • Mark Mohr

    June 19, 2015 at 12:35 pm

    Wow…incredible pictures. We all knew it was bad, but until one sees pictures of the aftermath you can’t really understand how bad it all really was.