Libyan Arab Airlines is the national airline of Libya.

History

Not much information is available about the history of Libyan Arab Airlines, in part because of their country's government's bad relations with the United Nations and most of its country members. But Libyan Arab Airlines used to be one of the most important Arabian airlines of the 1970s and 1980s. It was during the 1970s that a Boeing 727 of Libyan Arab Airlines was bombed by Israeli air forces that suspected it of being an enemy plane, killing all the passengers in the 727.

During the 1980s, Libyan Arab enjoyed a large presence in European airports. But after the bombing of the Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 by Libyan terrorists, the United Nations imposed several sanctions on the country of Libya, similar to the ones imposed on Iraq. Because of that, the airline was forced to fly for a little more than ten years only to domestic destinations, using their old airplanes. After Libya finally released the alleged bombers, international commercial aviation contacts with that country began to be re-established, and at the same time, Libyan Arab Airlines began to re-establish its name in the international market.