The government is urgently looking to charter aircraft to rescue British people from crisis-torn Libya as airlines KLM, British Airways and BMI have cancelled their flights out of Tripoli today.
Turkish Airlines, Air Malta, Alitallia, Austrian and Egypt Air are operating flights but these are all full at present, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
“Following demonstrations in Libya, the UK Government is looking urgently into options for charter flights,” the FCO said.
British Airways and BMI said they had yet to decide whether to resume return flights to Libya’s capital tomorrow. Both are urging customers to look at their websites ba.com and flybmi.com for updates.
BA and BMI operate daily services to the city out of Heathrow, although BMI only began flights to the city yesterday. Customers can claim full refunds or rebook for tickets booked up to February 27, or switch to an alternative destination.
BA said it would continue to monitor the situation. A spokesman said no time had been set to give an update but added: “We will look to give customers as much notice as we can.”
BMI cancelled flights on its second day of flying to the capital. Flight BD0469 was due to leave Heathrow at 10.45am and BD0470 was due return from Tripoli at 5.15pm local time.
A spokeswoman said: “We are keeping tabs on the situation and if we can let people know today on whether tomorrow’s flight will be cancelled we will.”