MEA continued operating at the airport despite the war, and despite the airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs [Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty]
Airlines will soon resume flights to and from Lebanon, Beirut airport authorities said, after a ceasefire with Israel came into effect this week.
Head of the Rafic Hariri International Airport Fadi al-Hassan announced that some airlines have already begun flights to Beirut, and it is expected that 90 percent of airlines will have resumed flights between 5 and 15 December.
Jordan said it would restart flights on Sunday, while Iraq said it would begin flights next week.
Al-Hassan told local broadcaster LBCI that the Israeli war impacted passenger traffic to Lebanon, but there was no material damage to the country’s only civilian airport.
During its blitz of Beirut’s southern suburbs, Israel would often conduct strikes very close to the airport. On one night, an airstrike hit very close to one of the runways.
Lebanese grew increasingly concerned that the airport could be targeted, as Israel had done in previous wars like in 2006.
Despite the bombardment and the dangers it posed, Lebanon’s national carrier, Middle East Airlines, continued operating, earning its title as “the most badass airline on the planet” by some publications.
The airline’s website had reportedly crashed briefly when the ceasefire was announced due to the high volume of visitors trying to book flights to Lebanon.
Al-Hassan said there was a significant increase in bookings, ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Cross-border fighting which erupted between the Hezbollah militant group and Israel in October 2023 spiralled into a full-blown war in September.
The war killed around 4,000 people in Lebanon, including civilians and combatants, and left large parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, south Lebanon and the eastern Baalbek-Hermel districts in ruins.
A US-brokered ceasefire came into effect on Wednesday, with widespread concern over whether it will hold amid Israeli violations in south Lebanon.
