Libyan authorities closed Tripoli airport Friday after some rockets were fired in its direction, a spokesman for the state airline Libyan Airlines said. Flights will be diverted to Misrata airport, the spokesman said, without elaborating. Misrata lies about 190 km east of Tripoli. Rival groups have been fighting in Tripoli for several days but clashes had been focused on the south of the city. Matiga airport lies in an eastern suburb. The spokesman said Matiga airport would be closed for 48 hours, citing a directive of the civil aviation authority.<br/>
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Air traffic officials in East Africa are warning of risky conditions for flights in the region around Ethiopia's international airport after air traffic controllers there went on strike over pay. Addis Ababa is home to state-owned Ethiopian Airlines. The city is a diplomatic hub as the African Union headquarters and a commercial centre in the capital of one of Africa's fastest-growing economies. A Kenya Air Traffic Controllers' Association official, Peter Ang'awa, said that "issues of concern have been raised by professionals in the industry. We have raised those issues." An International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations safety bulletin says air controllers indicate that aircraft are entering the adjacent Nairobi and Khartoum airspaces "in an uncoordinated manner." It says aircraft may not be receiving appropriate instructions. Ethiopia's civil aviation chief, Wosenyeleh Hunegnaw, said that Kenya and Sudan have raised concerns about the safety of inbound and outbound flights in Ethiopia but called the allegations "totally unfounded and an utter lie." All of the claims have been assessed case by case based on radar data, he said.<br/>
The UK government has lifted restrictions on passengers bringing large personal electronic devices into the cabin of UK-bound flights from Cairo—but apparently only on BA services. The UK announced bans on PEDs on UK-bound flights from Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia in March 2017. It has gradually been lifting these, apparently as security arrangements at individual airports are deemed to have been brought up to the necessary standards to prevent explosives being smuggled on board inside large PEDs such as laptops, tablet computers and large cellphones. The Department for Transport announced Aug. 30 that there were no longer restrictions on PEDs being brought on board BA services departing Cairo. However, the announcement made no mention of whether the easing of restrictions also applied to Egyptair flights and a DfT spokeswoman was unable to clarify the matter. If the ban continues to be enforced on Egyptair services, this is likely to further annoy the Egyptian government, which is already irritated at the UK government’s continued refusal to allow UK airlines to operate into the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh.<br/>