Tripoli International Airport, which looks set for a lengthy closure due to damage inflicted by armed groups, handles more than half of Libya's total air traffic.

In 2012, it accounted for around 57% of the 4.9 million domestic and international passengers who used Libyan airports, with Benghazi's Benina airport (now also closed due to damage) in second place and Misrata third.

Tripoli handled 30,440 flights in 2012, almost double the 16,526 in Benghazi, representing more than half of the national total.

The two state-owned carriers, Libyan Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways, also focus their services on Tripoli.

In 2013, for example, of the 1.1 million total passengers who flew on international Libyan Airlines flights, some 710,000 used Tripoli airport.

Even more importantly, Tripoli handles almost all flights to Europe operated by Libyan and international airlines such as British Airways, Alitalia, Lufthansa or Austrian Airlines, and to regional destinations such as Jordan, Istanbul or Cairo. 

Only a handful of carriers, such as Turkish Airlines, Tunisair and Air Malta, operate international flights to other locations in Libya, virtually all of which had been suspended in any case.

The closure of Tripoli airport is therefore hugely significant both for the local aviation sector, the wider business environment and for access to Libya from the outside world.

Some of the immediate implications are likely to be heavy traffic at the Ras Jedir border crossing with Tunisia, which is now effectively the only access point to western Libya, and busier flights from Tunisia to Europe.

The true scale and severity of the damage inflicted on the airport remains unclear, but a closure of at least several weeks - and potentially much longer - seems unavoidable.