Global Airport News

Runways at Libya's Benghazi airport have been destroyed in the carnage that has gripped the country meaning passenger planes cannot land there, It is not possible for Egyptair flights or any other flights to land in that airport." Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Tuesday.

Protests have swept throughout the country and are likely to continue for days.

Libyan security has cracked down on anti-government protesters and fighting has spread to the capital Tripoli after erupting in Libya's oil-producing east last week with Muammar Gaddafi showing no signs of stepping down after his 41 years in power.

Egypt's foreign minister told his nationals in Libya to, if possible, remain in their houses and secure themselves with enough food and water and to stay off the streets.

Egypt has been unable to evacuate citizens by air from the second city of Benghazi. It still awaits permission from Libyan air traffic authorities to land its planes at Tripoli airport.

"If Egyptians have to leave, and I always advise them to stay at home, then they would have to travel to Egyptian borders by land some 500 km. Such trips must be in groups and in busses," Aboul Gheit said.

Armed forces at the border have set up hospitals, tents and transport to move arriving nationals to Marsa Matrouh, a northern coastal area, the minister said.

He added that Egypt's foreign ministry has arranged to send four Egyptair flights daily to evacuate citizens but permission for flights to land in Tripoli is pending.

"Regarding west of Libya and the Tripoli airport, we must get certification to land flights. The reaction of the Libyan side is unclear," Aboul Gheit said. "This is a big operation very similar to the one in Iraq back in 1991," Aboul Gheit said.

Unrest which deposed the presidents of Egypt and Tunisia have shaken the Arab world and inspired protests across the Middle East and North Africa.