Middle East Airlines


Middle East Airlines – Air Liban S.A.L., more commonly known as Middle East Airlines, is the flag carrier of Lebanon, with its head office in Beirut, near Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport. It operates scheduled international flights to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa from its base at Rafic Hariri International Airport.
Middle East Airlines is a member of the SkyTeam airline alliance. MEA expressed its interest in becoming a SkyTeam associate member in early 2006 at a press conference in New York. On 28 February 2011, the airline signed the partnership agreement with SkyTeam at a ceremony in Beirut, and officially joined the alliance on 28 June 2012, becoming its 17th member and the second member airline in the Middle East.

History

Middle East Airlines - Air Liban was founded on 31 May 1945 by Saeb Salam and Fawzi EL-Hoss with operational and technical support from BOAC. Operations started on 1 January 1946 using three de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapides on flights between Beirut and Nicosia, followed by flights to Iraq, Egypt, and Syria. 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. The full title was then Middle East Airlines – Air Liban. In 1963, MEA also took over Lebanese International Airways.

The current name was adopted in November 1965 when the airline was merged with Air Liban. Although operations were interrupted by the 1967 Arab–Israeli war, and by the Israeli raid on Beirut Airport in 1968, in which the airline lost three Comet 4C's, two Caravelles, a Boeing 707, the Vickers VC10, and the Vickers Viscount, MEA restarted by acquiring a Convair 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 the Beirut–Paris–New York route from April 1983 until mid 1985. MEA had to adjust its operations due to the Lebanese Civil War between 1975 and 1991 but continued services despite multiple closures of the base at Beirut International Airport. Airbus A310-300s were acquired in 1993 and 1994, followed by an A321-200 in 1997 and the A330-200 in 2003. The airline has introduced self-check-in kiosks at Beirut International Airport as of 2010.
In November 2011, MEA's pilots union staged a 48-hour strike after a captain undergoing cancer treatment was dismissed shortly after going on sick leave.

On 28 June 2012, Middle East Airlines joined the SkyTeam alliance to become its 17th member and the second in the Middle East following Saudia. 5,000 staff are employed across the airline group. The central bank of Lebanon, Banque du Liban, owns a majority share of 99.50%.
On 11 November 2025, during its 80th anniversary conference, MEA's chairman, Mohamad El Hout, revealed the airline's plans to launch a new low-cost subsidiary, "Fly Beirut", to be managed by MEA itself. According to El Hout, the airline will commence operation in 2027 with a fleet of 6 aeroplanes and will be based out of Rene Mouawad Airport in North Lebanon.

Destinations

Middle East Airlines flies to 32 destinations, spanning across the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.
CountryCityAirportNotes
ArmeniaYerevanZvartnots International Airport
AustraliaSydneySydney Airport
BelgiumBrusselsBrussels Airport
CanadaMontrealMontréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
CanadaTorontoToronto Pearson International Airport
CanadaVancouverVancouver International Airport
CyprusLarnacaLarnaca International Airport
DenmarkCopenhagenCopenhagen Airport
EgyptCairoCairo International Airport
FranceNiceNice Côte d'Azur Airport
FranceParisCharles de Gaulle Airport
GermanyDüsseldorfDüsseldorf Airport
GermanyFrankfurtFrankfurt Airport
GhanaAccraKotoka International Airport
GreeceAthensAthens International Airport
GreeceMykonosMykonos Airport
IndiaDelhiIndira Gandhi International Airport
IndiaMumbaiChhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport
IraqBaghdadBaghdad International Airport
IraqBasraBasra International Airport
IraqNajafAl Najaf International Airport
IraqErbilErbil International Airport
IrelandDublinDublin Airport
ItalyMilanMilan Malpensa Airport
ItalyRomeRome Fiumicino Airport
Ivory CoastAbidjanFélix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport
JordanAmmanQueen Alia International Airport
KuwaitKuwait CityKuwait International Airport
LebanonBeirutBeirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport
NigeriaLagosMurtala Muhammed International Airport
QatarDohaHamad International Airport
RussiaMoscowSheremetyevo International Airport
Saudi ArabiaDammamKing Fahd International Airport
Saudi ArabiaJeddahKing Abdulaziz International Airport
Saudi ArabiaMedinaPrince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport
Saudi ArabiaRiyadhKing Khalid International Airport
NetherlandsAmsterdamAmsterdam Airport Schiphol
South AfricaCape TownCape Town International Airport
South AfricaJohannesburgO. R. Tambo International Airport
SpainBarcelonaJosep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport
SpainMadridMadrid–Barajas Airport
SwitzerlandGenevaGeneva Airport
TurkeyIstanbulIstanbul Airport
United Arab EmiratesAbu DhabiZayed International Airport
United Arab EmiratesDubaiDubai International Airport
United KingdomLondonHeathrow Airport
United KingdomManchesterManchester Airport
United StatesChicagoO'Hare International Airport
United StatesDetroitDetroit Metropolitan Airport
United StatesLos AngelesLos Angeles International Airport
United StatesNew York CityJohn F. Kennedy International Airport

Codeshare agreements

MEA has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
MEA also participates in SNCF's tgvair program.

Fleet

Current fleet

, Middle East Airlines operates an all-Airbus main fleet composed of the following aircraft:

Historic fleet

  • Airbus A300B4
  • Airbus A300-600
  • Airbus A310-200
  • Airbus A310-300
  • Airbus A321-200
  • Avro York
  • Boeing 707-320C
  • Boeing 720B
  • Boeing 747-100
  • Boeing 747-200B
  • Convair CV-990A
  • de Havilland Comet
  • Douglas DC-3
  • Douglas DC-4
  • Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle
  • Vickers VC10
  • Vickers Viscount

    Fleet development

Middle East Airlines - Air Liban firmed up its order for ten Airbus A320neo family aircraft in January 2013. The order for the A320neo was later converted to five more A321neo aircraft. The first A321neo was delivered on 10 July 2020; the third, delivered 9 October 2020, was the 10,000th A320 family aircraft produced. Two more A321neo aircraft are expected to join the airline's fleet in 2024, summing up the whole A321neo fleet size to 11.
On 12 December 2018, the then-Prime Minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri, signed an order with engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce Holdings for four Airbus A330-900s. During the 2019 Paris Air Show, the airline became the then launch customer for the A321XLR: four XLRs were ordered, intended for use on routes to Africa and Asia.
Cedar Executive, MEA's business jet subsidiary, took delivery of its first Embraer Legacy 500 on 5 January 2016.