Libyan Airlines (LN, Tripoli Mitiga) and sister carrier Afriqiyah Airways (8U, Tripoli Mitiga) should complete their protracted merger by the end of this year. Both Afriqiyah and Libyan are subsidiaries of the Libyan African Aviation Holding Company (LAAHC), which itself is owned by the Libyan National Social Fund, the Libyan National Investment Company, the Libya-Africa Investment Fund and the Libyan Foreign Investment Company.
In the interim, according to AirTransportWorld, Libyan is currently considering expanding its network to Accra, Lagos, Khartoum and Johannesburg O.R. Tambo with long-haul services to China also under consideration.
The airlines have been in negotiations over a merger for several years but the plan has been repeatedly delayed, most notably by the overthrow of Libya's Muammur Gaddhafi in 2011. Gaddhafi and his regime founded Afriqiyah as a separate entity to serve the African continent though since his downfall, the airline has moved to reorientate itself as an international airline operating in the same market as Libyan, which had originally focussed on regional and domestic flights.
A combined Afriqiyah/Libyan Airlines fleet would include three A319-100s, fourteen A320-200s, five A330-200s, two ATR42-500s and seven CRJ900s.
