Libya to privatise national carrier
www.dailystar.com Loss-making Libyan Arab Airlines is to be privatized, Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem announced in the latest move by the regime of Moammar Gadhafi as it moves back into the international fold.
But Ghanem said the state would not purchase any more planes for the national carrier's fleet, contradicting a claim by chairman Hassan Dabnoune that it would provide $1 billion to modernize the company and buy 22 new planes.
"Libyan Arab Airlines is going to be privatized and the Libyan state does not intend to buy new planes," Ghanem told AFP, without giving a date.
He said the "private sector could buy planes in the future with the help of bank loans," adding that the state "could only help by way of credits." Dabnoune had said in June that the airline was in contact with major manufacturers.
Ghanem said the carrier had "posted continuous losses as a result of bad management." Set up in the 1970s, Libyan Arab Airlines has a fleet of only five aircraft, which serve African, Arab and European routes.
Meanwhile, Ghanem said that three private airlines set up in Libya and using rented aircraft had been a success and now planned to buy airplanes.
The government announced last year that 360 companies would be privatized between 2004 and 2008. |