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Middle East Airlines Air Liban (Arabic: طيران الشرق الأوسط الخطوط الجوية اللبنانية), operating as Middle East Airlines (MEA) (Arabic: طيران الشرق الأوسط), is the national flag-carrier airline of Lebanon, with its head office in Beirut.[1] It operates scheduled international services in the Middle East, Europe and Africa with its base at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport.[2] Middle East Airlines (MEA) is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The airline expressed its interest in becoming a SkyTeam associate member in early 2006 at a press conference in New York.[3]
[edit] HistoryMiddle East Airlines was founded on 31 May 1945 by Saeb Salam, with operational and technical support from BOAC. Operations started on 1 January 1946 using three de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapides on services between Beirut and Nicosia, followed by flights to Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Cyprus. Two Douglas DC-3s were acquired in mid-1946. Pan American World Airways acquired a stake and management contract in September 1949. Pan Am was replaced when BOAC acquired 49% of MEA's shares in 1955. A Vickers Viscount was introduced in October 1955 while an Avro York cargo aircraft was leased in June 1957. On 15 December 1960 the first of four de Havilland Comet 4Cs arrived. After the association with BOAC ended on 16 August 1961, MEA was merged with Air Liban on 7 June 1963, which gave Air France a 30% holding, since relinquished. The full title was then Middle East Airlines Air Liban. In 1963 MEA also took over Lebanese International Airways. The fleet was modernised with the addition of three Sud Aviation Caravelles, in April 1963; three Boeing 720Bs, in January 1966; one leased Vickers VC10, in March 1967; and a number of Boeing 707-320Cs, from November 1967.  The current name was adopted in November 1965 when the airline was completely merged with Air Liban. Although operations were interrupted by the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and by the Israeli raid on Beirut Airport in 1968, MEA restarted by acquiring a Convair CV-990A from American Airlines, which entered service on 24 June 1969. A Boeing 747-200B entered service in June 1975 on the Beirut - London route and later on Beirut-Paris-New York April 1983 til mid 1985. Operations were interrupted again until 1990, until the political situation stabilised. Airbus A310-300s were acquired in 1993 and 1994, followed by an A321-200 and an A330-200, (which replaced the A310s). The airline was restructured in 2001. On 7 September 2006, Israel ended its 8-week-long air blockade on Lebanon when an MEA flight from Paris landed at Beirut International Airport. MEA resumed regularly scheduled flights on 11 September 2006.   The airline will introduce self check-in kiosks at Beirut's international airport and launch the Arabesk regional alliance with six other Arab carriers. They will be floating 10 to 20% of their shares on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) as part of long-term plans to fully privatize the airline. The airline is majority owned by the central bank of Lebanon, Banque du Liban, (99.37%) and employs 2,437 staff (at March 2007).[2] [edit] DestinationsMain article: Middle East Airlines destinations Middle East Airlines flies to 27 destinations in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.[4] Of these destinations, four are served seasonally, Berlin, Copenhagen, Nice, and Sharm el Sheikh.[4] Although the airline does not have an extensive network compared to other international airlines, it did serve 36 destinations from Beirut in 1968. Nineteen of those routes are no longer served today.[5][6][7][8][9][10] Flights to Baghdad were to be resumed in June which have been suspended since the Gulf War, but have been postponed. Berlin suspended since a few years, was resumed on 1 June, there are also plans to start service to Moscow, Khartoum, and Madrid, all of which were former MEA destinations. [edit] FleetAs of 23 May 2009 the MEA fleet consists of the following aircraft:[11]
[edit] Future aircraft ordersIn October 2008, MEA announced that it was seeking up to eight Boeing 787s or Airbus A350s.[12] It has asked Airbus and Boeing to submit their offers for an order consisting of five firm aircraft and three options for delivery around 2017. The final decision will be made in late 2009 or early 2010. MEA is also in talks with Bombardier for smaller aircraft to be used on regional routes. [edit]MEA has codeshare agreements with the following airlines: MEA also participates in SNCF's (French National Railways) tgvair program. [edit] SubsidiariesMiddle East Airlines (MEA) fully owns the following subsidiaries, although they are operated independently.
In addition to the above three wholly-owned subsidiaries, Middle East Airlines (MEA) also owns 77.5% of the Lebanese Beirut Airport Catering Company (LBACC) which is the only airline catering company at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport. [edit] References
[edit] External links
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