Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines keeps flying despite conflict

Since Israel began its offensive against Hezbollah in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon’s national carrier, Middle East Airlines (MEA), has continued flying.

Located on the coast, where many Hezbollah operations take place, Beirut’s airport remains operational, unlike during the 2006 war when Israeli strikes quickly disabled the facility. 

Captain Mohammed Aziz, an adviser to MEA chairman Mohamed El-Hout, revealed that the airline had received assurances from Israel that neither the airport nor its planes would be targeted, provided they serve only civilian purposes. 

Daily assessments are conducted to ensure the safety of operations. “As long as you see us operating, it means our threat assessment says we can operate,” Aziz stated, emphasising that MEA would never endanger lives. 

However, the sight of planes taking off against a backdrop of smoke from nearby strikes has caused alarm. Dramatic images circulating online, some AI generated, added to the tension, though Aziz clarified that the smoke in news footage often appears closer to the airport than it is. 

On Monday night, a strike landed just 200 metres from a runway, but no aircraft were in the vicinity. 

Despite the risks, MEA has maintained 32 to 40 flights daily, only slightly below the usual number for this season. Most flights leave Beirut full and return nearly empty as Lebanese citizens and foreigners, including embassy staff, evacuate to nearby destinations like Turkey and Cyprus. 

‘Pretty unusual’

Passengers, like business consultant Elie Obeid, have expressed mixed feelings about flying during the conflict. Obeid, unaware of airstrikes during his flight’s landing, was only informed upon arrival via messages on his phone. 

“I do appreciate the fact that they are still flying, since that’s our only connection with the outer world currently,” he said.

“But at the same time it is very risky. We should have been told that strikes were happening, and maybe even they could have told the pilot to request to land in Cyprus for a while until the strikes ended.”

John Cox, a US-based former airline pilot who is now an aviation safety consultant, said when there’s a potential threat, it’s the captain’s call whether or not to proceed, and it’s not unusual for passengers to be left in the dark.

Telling them about a threat they can’t control “doesn’t really do any good, and it stresses them out. So, I would be very hesitant to do that,” he said.

But, he added, “I’m not sure that I want to fly into an area of open conflict like that with passengers on board.”

It is “pretty unusual,” Cox said, for a commercial airline to decide that operating in an active war zone is an “acceptable level of risk.”

“When you’re in an area with ongoing military operations there’s an awful lot of variables,” he said. “Even just keeping the airplanes … so that they’re not in the same airspace at the same time, that becomes very difficult.”

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MEA works closely with the Lebanese government and security agencies to mitigate risks, including adjusting flight schedules and parking part of its fleet outside Lebanon to reduce potential damage.

Additionally, the airline has adapted to frequent GPS jamming used by Israel to deter missiles and drone attacks. However, they also disrupt civilian navigation technology. 

Other international airlines have ceased operations, citing the high risk and the complexity of assessing the situation for just a few flights.

For MEA, however, these risk assessments are crucial to maintaining Lebanon’s only connection to the outside world. 

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“It is our duty, of course, to maintain this link between Lebanon and the outside world,” Aziz said.