Aoun: Qleiaat Airport 'will witness development, rehabilitation works in coming months'

BEIRUT — President Joseph Aoun said on Wednesday that the René Moawad International Airport in Qleiaat "will witness development and rehabilitation works in the coming months in preparation for the start of its operations," according to a post published by the Lebanese Presidency on X.

Aoun made the comment during a meeting with a delegation of businessmen from Tripoli at the Baabda Presidential Palace.

In September, Public Works and Transport Minister Fayez Rasamny announced that the contract for rehabilitating the Qleiaat Airport in northern Lebanon will be awarded "within the first three months of next year."

The question of opening a second airport in Lebanon has been debated for many years, and the Nawaf Salam government revived the issue.

This infrastructure, built in 1938 by the French Army, was handed over to the Lebanese Army in 1966, which turned it into a military base.

It was renamed René Moawad Airport in 1989 in honor of the assassinated president.