Apart from MEA and Royal Jordanian, no airline will operate out of Beirut airport before April

The word "canceled" dominates Beirut's airport's arrivals and departures board nearly four weeks into the regional war.

Only Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines (MEA), which overhauled its schedule to keep flying, and Royal Jordanian, which hesitantly resumed Beirut-Amman flights on March 21, have operated daily flights since March 24 — not without difficulty.

Royal Jordanian's Thursday 11:40 a.m. flight was delayed at least an hour, according to the airport switchboard, and appeared canceled on the airport website.

All other airlines have extended Beirut flight suspensions at least until April. L’Orient-Le Jour summarizes recent updates.

Inside Beirut's airport

Mohammad Aziz, chief captain of an airport at war

Airspace

The Middle East and Gulf airspace shows no major changes from last week. Iraq's remains closed, Syria operates only at Aleppo airport. Airlines suspending Beirut flights often do the same for Israel and other war-exposed regional routes, sometimes with different resumption dates.

Several Gulf airlines stopped Lebanon flights long before the war due to regional tensions with Beirut, particularly Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, two travel agency sources confirmed.

The airlines suspending flights long-term are the ones that can reassign planes to other routes to limit losses, excluding insurance and profitability factors.

Gulf carriers lack this luxury: Qatar Airways operates at one-fifth capacity, Emirates three-quarters, Flydubai one-third, Air Arabia and Etihad half, according to Flightradar24.com data cited by Reuters.

Travel agency sources say most airlines will quickly reconsider suspensions if the situation improves significantly. "But signs must be concrete and fuel prices must stabilize," one said. Another noted demand can always be met via stops, with MEA handling the final segments to Beirut.

In the news

Three weeks of war: Air travel in the region still faces turbulence

New announcements

Airlines that suspended Lebanon flights for specific periods:

• Turkish Airlines: Suspending Istanbul-Beirut flights until April 9 "due to the regional situation," the Turkish carrier told Lebanon partners on Wednesday.
• Pegasus: Turkish low-cost carrier lists Beirut flights suspended until April 12 "due to airspace restrictions and recent developments."
• SunExpress: Turkish-German carrier connecting Beirut to Antalya or Izmir will not resume before May 1.
• Air France and Transavia: Air France-KLM group extended suspension from March 28 to April 4, per message to travel agencies. Travelers can redirect to MEA, Royal Jordanian or Delta partner flights from Paris. Timeline also applies to low-cost Transavia.
• EgyptAir: Extended Beirut-Cairo suspension until April 15 inclusive for "security reasons."
• Lufthansa Group: Announced Tuesday all Beirut flights suspended until April 30, affecting Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, Edelweiss, Eurowings and Lufthansa Cargo.
• Qatar Airways: Temporarily suspended all flights due to Qatar's airspace closure, sharing a maritime border with Iran. Gradually resumed early March operations, but Lebanon remains absent from its website destinations.
• Emirates, Flydubai and Etihad: Not expected to resume Lebanon flights before April 15 at the earliest, travel agency sources said.
• Aegean Airlines: Pushed Beirut resumption from March 29 to April 23.
• LOT: Polish carrier extended suspension until April 30, with no resumption before early May.
• Cyprus Airways: Suspended Beirut, Dubai and Tel Aviv flights until March 31.
• Sundair: German carrier suspended Beirut flights until April 12 unless the situation improves significantly.
• Ethiopian Airlines: Has not announced Beirut suspension or resumption timeline.

À part MEA et Royal Jordanian, personne ne reviendra à l’aéroport de Beyrouth avant avril