MEA's 10th Airbus A321neo is set to be delivered this week. (Credits: MEA)
Middle East Airlines (MEA) will receive its 10th Airbus A321neo aircraft, set to land at Rafik Hariri International Airport (RHIA) from Hamburg on Friday, according to two sources within the airline.
MEA's 10th Airbus A321neo, a single-aisle airplane with a capacity of 160 passengers — 28 in business class and 132 in economy class — marks the completion of MEA’s fleet renewal initiative, which it launched in the late 2010s. According to the Airbus company website, the A321neo is the newest model from Airbus’ A320 Family and has the longest fuselage, meaning it is the airplane with the longest body. Originally, MEA had ordered 11 A321neos but exchanged the 11th for an A321 XLR.
Alongside these A321neos, MEA operates four A330-200 aircraft (244 seats) and several A320-200 aircraft (126 seats). The airline is also expecting the delivery of at least five A321 XLRs in 2026, four of which were ordered in 2019, representing the latest model from the European manufacturer.
The company hasn’t revealed the price of the new aircraft, but based on figures from the manufacturer's catalog, the order price is estimated to be hundreds of millions of dollars.