The engine of an MEA plane at Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy, seen from the boarding bridge, April 9, 2024. (Credit: L'Orient-Le Jour)
The Lebanese national airline, Middle East Airlines (MEA), announced the new modified schedules of some of its flights to and from Beirut for the dates of Aug. 9 to 13, in accordance with the habits it has adopted since the beginning of the latest sequence of regional tensions that broke out about ten days ago.
This phase began with a deadly strike on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Syrian Golan annexed by Israel, which it accuses Hezbollah of carrying out, but for which the party denies any responsibility; then with the Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, which killed a senior military official of the Shiite party, Fouad Shukur.
Since then, several foreign airlines, including those of the Air France - KLM or Lufthansa group, have decided to temporarily suspend their services to Beirut, sometimes under pressure from their insurers. Thus:
• Air France and Transavia have suspended all their flights until Thursday, Aug. 8 inclusive.
• Lufthansa, Swiss and Eurowings have suspended flights until Aug. 12. The same applies to the German charter company Sundair.
• Kuwait Airlines has suspended flights since Monday until further notice.
• Aegean Airlines has in principle suspended its Athens-Beirut flights until Aug. 15.
Other airlines have continued to serve Beirut by adjusting or suspending some flights, such as Cyprus Airways, Turkish Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Flydubai or Pegasus. Airlines have done the same with Tel Aviv airport, suspending some flights.
MEA has adjusted its flight schedules and continues to operate around 40 flights per day, departing and arriving. On Tuesday, it published the changes for the period up to Aug. 8.
Here are the details of the changes for the flight from Aug. 9 to 13. Most of the changes correspond to those already in place compared to the flight schedule in effect before the start of the tensions. All times are in the time zone of the departure city.
Aug. 9:
- ME431 Dubai-Beirut: Departure postponed from 2:15 a.m. to 6:10 a.m. on the same day.
- ME435 Doha-Beirut: Departure postponed from 2:50 a.m. to 5:05 a.m. on the same day.
- ME321 Baghdad-Beirut: Departure postponed from 12:25 p.m. to 4:55 p.m. on the same day.
- ME226 Copenhagen-Beirut: Departure postponed from 10:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. the next day.
- ME369 Jeddah-Beirut: Departure postponed from 9:15 p.m. to 5:50 a.m. the next day.
- ME204 London-Beirut: Departure postponed from 22:00 to 8:25 the next day.
- ME225 Beirut-Copenhagen: Departure postponed from 6:20 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. on the same day.
- ME320 Beirut-Baghdad: Departure postponed from 9:55 a.m. to 2:25 p.m. on the same day.
Aug. 10:
- ME204 London-Beirut: Departure postponed from 10:00 p.m. to 8:25 a.m. the next day.
- ME369 Jeddah-Beirut: Departure postponed from 9:15 p.m. to 5:50 a.m. the next day.
- ME403 Kuwait-Beirut: Departure postponed from 9:15 p.m. to 5:55 a.m. the next day.
- ME443 Dammam-Beirut: Departure postponed from 8:55 p.m. to 5:40 a.m. the next day.
- ME431 Dubai-Beirut: Departure postponed from 2:15 a.m. to 6:10 a.m. on the same day.
Aug. 11:
- ME435 Doha-Beirut: Departure postponed from 2:50 a.m. to 5:05 a.m. on the same day.
- ME431 Dubai-Beirut: Departure postponed from 2:15 a.m. to 5:10 a.m. on the same day.
- ME1262 Larnaca-Beirut: Departure postponed from 7:40 a.m. to 6:50 a.m. on the same day.
- ME226 Copenhagen-Beirut: Departure postponed from 10:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. the next day.
- ME369 Jeddah-Beirut: Departure postponed from 9:15 p.m. to 5:50 a.m. the next day.
- ME443 Dammam-Beirut: Departure postponed from 8:55 p.m. to 5:40 a.m. the next day.
- ME403 Kuwait-Beirut: Departure postponed from 9:15 p.m. to 5:55 a.m. the next day.
- ME225 Beirut-Copenhagen: Departure postponed from 6:20 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. on the same day.
- ME1368 Beirut-Jeddah: Departure postponed from 12:45 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the same day.
Aug. 12:
- ME435 Doha-Beirut: Departure postponed from 02:50 to 05:05 the same day.
- ME431 Dubai-Beirut: Departure postponed from 2:15 a.m. to 6:10 a.m. on the same day.
- ME369 Jeddah-Beirut: Departure postponed from 9:15 p.m. to 5:50 a.m. the next day.
- ME403 Kuwait-Beirut: Departure postponed from 9:15 p.m. to 5:55 a.m. the next day.
- ME204 London-Beirut: Departure postponed from 10 p.m. to 11 a.m. the next day.
Aug. 13:
- ME435 Doha-Beirut: Departure postponed from 2:50 a.m. to 5:05 a.m. on the same day.
- ME431 Dubai-Beirut: Departure postponed from 2:15 a.m. to 6:10 a.m. on the same day.
- ME226 Copenhagen-Beirut: Departure postponed from 10:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. the next day.
- ME403 Kuwait-Beirut: Departure postponed from 9:15 p.m. to 5:55 a.m. the next day.
- ME369 Jeddah-Beirut: Departure postponed from 9:15 p.m. to 5:50 a.m. the next day.
- ME443 Dammam-Beirut: Departure postponed from 8:55 p.m. to 5:40 a.m. the next day.
- ME204 London-Beirut: Departure postponed from 10 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. the next day.
- ME225 Beirut-Copenhagen: Departure postponed from 6:20 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. on the same day.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.