Airport passengers down 1.3 percent in first three months of 2025

BEIRUT – The number of passengers passing through Beirut’s international airport (arrivals, transit and departures) totaled 1,254,673 in the first quarter of 2025, a 1.3 percent drop compared to 1,271,456 passengers recorded over the same period in 2024, according to the latest numbers released by the airport.

The number of arriving passengers reached 678,263, an increase of 9.5 percent compared to the 619,539 passengers recorded in the first quarter of 2024.

The number of departing passengers, however, decreased by 11.5 percent, down from 651,169 over the same period in 2024, to 576,277 in 2025.

In March alone, 403,128 passengers used Lebanon’s airport, a decrease of 4 percent from 420,427 the previous month, and a decline of 1 percent compared to March 2024. Of those, 168,445 departed, there was a drop of 14.3 percent compared to February 2025 and 13 percent compared to March 2024.

On the other hand, 234,639 arrived in Lebanon, an increase of 4.8 percent from February and 9.8 percent compared to March 2024.

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In terms of aircraft activity, the airport recorded a total of 10,406 take-offs and landings between January and March 2025, a 4.4 percent decrease from the 10,887 recorded during the same period in 2024.

Middle East Airlines (MEA), Lebanon’s flagship carrier, accounted for 50.7 percent of the airport’s total aircraft activity, with 1,901 flights during the first quarter of 2025. Most airlines had halted activities in Lebanon during the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which started on Oct. 8, 2023, but escalated drastically in September 2024, last year, leaving MEA as the only operating airline in the country for months.

Several airlines, like Air France among others, remained wary amid the volatile security situation in the months that ensued – and even after a cease-fire was concluded at the end of November 2024 – but have gradually resumed their flights in and out of Beirut.