Libyan airline Buraq Air orders its first brand-new jets in history: 10 Airbus A320neos
November 19, 2025
Libyan airline Buraq Air has become a new Airbus customer with an order for 10 A320neo family jets at the Dubai Airshow.
These are the first brand-new aircraft the airline has ever ordered, and, if all are taken, would see the airline doubling its fleet size from the current level.
“We are delighted to welcome Buraq Air as a new Airbus customer of the A320 Family and we thank them for their confidence,” says Benoit de Saint-Exupéry, Airbus EVP Sales of the Commercial Aircraft business. “This agreement reinforces the A320neo as the aircraft of choice for fleet modernisation and we are dedicated to supporting Buraq’s Air strategic expansion plan.”
The agreement signed today is a memorandum of understanding (MoU), so no specific delivery timeline was provided, and the specific variant of the A320neo family was not disclosed.
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Airbus jets to provide a seamless platform for EU-permitted Medsky Airways
Buraq Air’s fleet today numbers just five aircraft – three Airbus A320ceos, one Boeing 737-800 and a sole Embraer ERJ-1`90.
It operates very limited scheduled services on domestic routes and to Istanbul, and has a robust charter operation alongside this. However, Buraq Air has always eyed flying into European destinations.
That’s a problem for an airline from Libya, as all air carriers from the country are banned from flying into the EU. At the time, domestic conflicts were making flights unsafe, with one of Buraq Air’s own Boeing 737-800s hit by gunfire on approach to Tripoli Airport in 2013. Two of its aircraft were written off after getting caught up in the conflict.
To get around the EU ban, fellow Libyan airline Medsky Airways has begun registering its aircraft in Malta. As Maltese aircraft are overseen by a European regulator, the carrier can fly into European countries, despite being a Libyan country.
Fouzi Almiqalh, General Assembly President of Buraq Air, hinted that the order of the A320neo will help its ‘strategic partner’ Medsky, which has previously taken aircraft transferred out of the Buraq Air fleet.
“The A320neo’s efficiency and flexibility will not only be central to strengthening our core network but will also provide a seamless platform for Medsky Airways, our key strategic partner, to jointly enhance passenger offering across both our carriers”, said Almiqalh.
Whether that means some of the aircraft are intended to be transferred across is not clear at this point.
Buraq Air: A scrappy airline operating in a difficult environment
Headquartered at Mitiga International Airlines in Tripoli, Buraq Air is Libya’s first privately owned airline. It was established in 2000 with a pair of dry-leased Boeing 727s, adding more 727s and two L410s in the first two years.
It began life flying between oil fields and on domestic routes between Tripoli and Benghazi, and began its first international flights to Istanbul in 2002.
Since then, it has expanded its domestic network, adding Boeing 737 Classics and later NGs, although at points in its history, the airline also flew a BAe Jetstream 32, a DHC Dash 8 and even a McDonnell Douglas DC 10-10.
It wasn’t until 2023 that the airline flew its first Airbus product, adding a 10-year-old A320ceo. It has since added three more A320ceos and divested itself of all Boeing 737s apart from one.
The airline had to stop flying when the civil war broke out in 2011, and had to abandon its original home at Tripoli Airport after it was heavily damaged in the fighting. But by 2020, it had re-emerged, celebrating its 20th anniversary and promising a ‘Buraq Air 2.0’, ready to grow and thrive.
With an order for brand new aircraft under its belt for the first time in history, it’s going to be interesting to see where the scrappy airline goes next.
Featured image: Airbus
