Bullet

Heavy clashes broke out in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Jan 15, leaving at least twenty people dead and forcing HLLM/Mitiga airport to close for five days, re-opening again on Jan 20.

Gunfire at the airport damaged multiple aircraft, including a few A319s and at least one A330.

Here are some photos of some of the damage:

Both airports in Tripoli are focal points for fighting. Given their strategic value, they periodically serve as headquarters for various local militias.

HLLT/Tripoli has been more or less completely closed since mid-2014, when at least 90% of the airport’s facilities were destroyed in fighting between local militias. Since then, international flights to and from Tripoli have been using HLLM/Mitiga instead. Technically, HLLT/Tripoli is now only available for VIP, emergency and ambulance flights; but in reality, it should be avoided at all costs.

HLLM/Mitiga is the old military airfield, which is now being used for civilian traffic, since the closure of HLLT/Tripoli. However, the airport has been plagued by violence over the past few years, and has been forced to close a number of times.

Back in July 2017, we reported on the intense fighting that took place at Mitiga airport where 5 people were killed and 32 injured, and then on 19 Oct 2017, a Libyan Airlines A330 at the airport was hit by gunfire during an exchange of fire between local militia in the district directly south of the airport.

A number of countries already have blanket warnings in place against operating to Libya, and they all say pretty much the same thing: avoid the entire country – don’t land at any airport, don’t even overfly.

So we suggest you ignore whatever gets pumped out on the HLLL FIR Notams about airports being “AVAILABLE H24 FOR INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS AND EN-ROUTE DIVERSIONS”. (You can read that nonsense in full by clicking here.)

Libya remains categorised as a Level One country (Do Not Fly) at safeairspace.net

Details still emerging: this page will be updated. Report any information to report@safeairspace.net.

25 JAN – Information updated.

At Flight Service Bureau we rarely report on individual aircraft incidents, because the impact to other operators in International Flight Operations is very minimal. This case is different.

We received an OPSGROUP member report of an incident that occurred around January 15th, to a B767-300 operated by Latam Airlines, on approach.

Our initial report indicated that the 767 was fired upon on approach to Runway 15 at SBGL/GIG – the main Rio de Janeiro airport. A 7.62mm bullet lodged in the No. 3 slat, on the left wing. Pictures are below. Subsequent reports from other sources suggest that it may have occured in Sao Paolo.

The specific location in Brazil is therefore uncertain, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the aircraft overflew a favela on approach, and that Rio remains the most likely candidate for the location.

Rio Airport has however asked us to publish this statement:

RIOgaleão, concessionaire responsible for the operation of Tom Jobim International Airport, in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), informs that there has not been any record of an aircraft hit by a bullet within the airport site. The airline’s press office, in a statement, informed to the Brazilian press that it has activated the national and aviation security agencies. The public agencies investigate the case to identify where the incident occurred.

An entry for Brazil with the full report has been added to SafeAirspace.net, our shared repository on threats to aviation including Conflict Zones, Airspace Security, and Overflight risk.