Air Arabia, second Emirati airline to announce resumption of its flights to Beirut

BEIRUT — Air Arabia said Friday it plans to resume flights between the emirate of Sharjah and Beirut starting April 23, according to a message sent to its partners in Lebanon, as a 10-day cease-fire has taken effect after more than six weeks of war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Air Arabia is the second Emirati carrier to announce a return to Beirut after Flydubai, which is set to operate its first flight on Saturday. Emirates has not yet announced any plans regarding Lebanon.

The war launched on Feb. 28 by the United States and Israel in Iran, which spilled over into Lebanon on March 2, disrupted air travel across the Middle East and the Gulf, forcing several countries to close their airspace.

Shortly after the cease-fire between Washington and Tehran took effect, Qatar Airways announced it would resume flights to Lebanon starting April 14 and has since operated one daily flight between Doha and Beirut.

Royal Jordanian, which had been operating flights between Amman and Beirut only intermittently and without formal announcements, confirmed Thursday evening that it will resume regular flights to Beirut starting Sunday. Iraqi Airways is also set to resume flights to Lebanon on Sunday.

By contrast, Air France, Turkish Airlines, and Pegasus are not expected to resume flights to Beirut's airport before May at the earliest.