The Libyan Airlines company in Benghazi said Misrata Airport had seized a plane after it arrived in the airport coming from Benina Airport in Benghazi for maintenance purposes.

Since 2014, Libyan Airlines, like all other state institutions, has been split into Tripoli and Benghazi administrations. The Benghazi branch has one plane only that is operating from Benina Airport.

The airliner in Benghazi's spokesman, Ezzedine Al-Mashnoun told Reuters that the only plane operated by Libyan Airlines - Benghazi Administration was seized during maintenance, adding that the incident was causing serious disruption to the flight schedule as it operates three flights to international destinations daily.

A spokesman for the eastern-based Libyan administration told Reuters that the authorities in eastern Libya have given Misrata Airport hours to return the plane or they must take responsibility for other escalatory measures in their airspace.

"The problem was fixed by the company's engineers at Misrata airport and after preparing the plane for take-off, it was stopped by Hussain Ballaou, the assistant manager of Misrata airport." The airliner said in a statement on Facebook.

Last Thursday, eastern authorities forced an Afriqiyah Airways plane to land in Benina Airport in Benghazi for security checks after it had taken off from Misrata Airport.

As a response, the Libyan Transportation Ministry halted flights that take off from Misrata and Mitiga Airports via eastern Libyan airspace for fear of being forced to land in Benghazi.