A Middle East Airlines plane flies over Raouche as it approaches Beirut airport, on July 26, 2025. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L’Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Fifty-seven years later, a new page could be turning for Lebanon’s civil aviation: Middle East Airlines (MEA)’s long-standing exclusivity as Lebanon’s only locally registered commercial carrier has expired. The information was confirmed to L’Orient-Le Jour by MP Sajih Attieh, chairman of Parliament’s Public Works, Transport, Energy, and Water Committee.The arrangement, which came to an end in early 2026, had prevented other airlines from registering as a Lebanon-based commercial carrier, though it did not apply to foreign airlines operating flights to and from Beirut. Its expiry marks the end of a “monopoly” first granted to MEA in the late 1960s and repeatedly extended over the decades.MEA, which operates on a commercial basis, is almost entirely owned by Banque du Liban (BDL, central bank) — despite aviation falling outside...
BEIRUT — Fifty-seven years later, a new page could be turning for Lebanon’s civil aviation: Middle East Airlines (MEA)’s long-standing exclusivity as Lebanon’s only locally registered commercial carrier has expired. The information was confirmed to L’Orient-Le Jour by MP Sajih Attieh, chairman of Parliament’s Public Works, Transport, Energy, and Water Committee.The arrangement, which came to an end in early 2026, had prevented other airlines from registering as a Lebanon-based commercial carrier, though it did not apply to foreign airlines operating flights to and from Beirut. Its expiry marks the end of a “monopoly” first granted to MEA in the late 1960s and repeatedly extended over the decades.MEA, which operates on a commercial basis, is almost entirely owned by Banque du Liban (BDL, central bank) — despite aviation...
