A charter flight by Ghadames Airlines arrived at Augusto C. Sandino Airport in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua in Central America, on May 23, making it the second flight coming from Libya in less than a week, according to what was published by the flight tracking platform “FlightAware.”
The Italian news agency Nova reported that this second plane took off from Benghazi Airport on May 22 at 2:22 a.m., arriving in Managua in Nicaragua at around 9 a.m., taking about 14 hours and 40 minutes, according to details of the aircraft tracking website FlightAware.
Ghadames Airlines did not inform the Nicaraguan International Airports Administration of the landing date of this flight, which was not included in the list of other international flights that arrived on May 23 and others that landed on May 18.
The report indicated that Ghadames Airlines is owned by a businessman close to one of Khalifa Haftar’s sons, stressing that its flights to Nicaragua are not for commercial purposes, but are likely to be one of Moscow’s ways of pushing immigrants toward the US border to undermine Joe Biden’s election campaign; or a message to the White House about the damage Russia could cause through its allies.
The two chartered flights had in common their close relations with Russia, as they both departed from Benina airport in Benghazi, which is considered a place for the gathering or transit of immigrants, and is under the control of Khalifa Haftar, Putin’s ally in Libya.
In addition, Washington previously warned against using Central American regions as a platform for illegal immigration to the United States, according to Italian newspapers, which added that Washington has warned airlines against dealing with Ghadames Airlines flights heading to Managua due to its concern about facilitating the arrival of immigrants to the United States on these flights.
The Libyan plane, which has made two flights to Nicaragua, is a Boeing 777 with a capacity of 400 seats and is the largest in the Ghadames Airlines fleet, as it can accommodate 400 passengers and operates with two General Electric engines, intended mainly for long-haul flights.
It is worth noting that the European Union and the United States have imposed, since the end of 2014, a ban on the passage of aircraft belonging to Libyan airlines over European and US airspace.
