The plane on which Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Public Works and Transport Minister Fayez Rasamny arrived at René Moawad Airport in Qleiaat, Akkar, on June 6, 2026. (Credit: Stephanie Bechara/L'Orient-Le Jour)
The first plane belonging to Sky Lounge Services, the company responsible for operating René Moawad Qleiaat Airport (Akkar), arrived Wednesday at Rafik Hariri International Airport (RHIA) as part of preparations for the launch of flights from Qleiaat Airport, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
This arrival is part of the administrative and technical procedures to put René Moawad Airport into service "before the end of the year," NNA specified.
Sky Lounge Services, the company responsible for rehabilitating and operating the new airport, announced at the end of July the opening of 21 positions, part of the first phase of its recruitment plan.
After decades of delays, rehabilitation work at Qleiaat airport finally began on June 8, following an official inauguration two days earlier. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Minister of Public Works and Transport Fayez Rassamny arrived by plane after a symbolic landing and a grand reception marking the return of civil air activity to the site after more than three decades of near inactivity.
This stage marked a notable advance, following Rassamny's May 19 announcement that the contract to revive the site had been awarded to Sky Lounge Services, one of the Salam government's flagship projects. Beyond passenger traffic, Rassamny presented the project as an economic and logistical endeavor of major significance for Akkar and North Lebanon. The opening was then scheduled for late October.
Qleiaat Airport, a former military base, briefly hosted civil flights but has remained largely unused since the 1990s. It is named after former president René Moawad, assassinated in an attack in 1989.
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