Middle East Airlines

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Middle East Airlines Air Liban
IATA
ME		 ICAO
MEA		 Callsign
CEDAR JET
Founded 1945
Hubs Rafic Hariri International Airport
Frequent flyer program Cedar Miles
Member lounge Cedar Lounge
Fleet size 9
Destinations 26
Parent company Middle East Airlines / Air Liban SAL
Headquarters Beirut, Lebanon
Key people Mohammad El-Hout (CEO)
Website: http://www.mea.com.lb

Middle East Airlines (Arabic: طيران الشرق الأوسط), also known by its long name, Middle East Airlines Air Liban (Arabic: طيران الشرق الأوسط الخطوط الجوية اللبنانية), is the national flag-carrier airline of Lebanon, based in Beirut. It operates scheduled international services in the Middle East, Europe and Africa, based at Rafic Hariri International Airport. It is majority owned by the Central Bank of Lebanon (99.37%) and employs 2,310 staff

Middle East Airlines (MEA) is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization and the International Air Transport Association. In 2007, the airline will be joining the SkyTeam Alliance as an associate member through its partner Air France.

Contents

MEA Airbus A330-200 landing
MEA Airbus A330-200 landing

Middle East Airlines was founded on May 31, 1945 by Saeb Salam, with operational and technical support from BOAC, with three de Havilland DH.89A Rapides. Operations started on January 1. 1946 with a service between Beirut and Nicosia, followed by flights to Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Cyprus. Two Douglas DC-3s were acquired in mid-1946. Pan Am acquired a stake and management contract in September 1949.

Pan Am were 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 December 15, 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 it 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.

MEA Airbus A330-200 landing
MEA Airbus A330-200 landing

The present title was adopted in November 1965 when the airline was completely merged with Air Liban. Although operations were interrupted by the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, MEA restarted by acquiring a Convair CV-990A from American Airlines, which entered service on June 24, 1969. A Boeing 747-200B entered service in June 1975 on the Beirut - London route. 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 September 7, 2006, Israel ended its 8-week long air blockade on Lebanon. A Middle East Airlines flight from Paris landed at Rafik Hariri International Airport at 6:06 p.m. local time (3:03 p.m. GMT). MEA resumed regularly scheduled flights on September 11, 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 in the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) as part of long-term plans to fully privatize the airline.

MEA Airbus A330-200 taking off
MEA Airbus A330-200 taking off

The airline announced in December 2005 that it will be expanding its fleet by acquiring an Airbus aircraft in 2007 and another one in 2008. The types however have been unspecified, but at least one of them is expected to be an A330-200 to be used to upgrade the Paris service from daily A321 and daily A330 to twice daily A330s.

The airline is also planning to acquire 50 to 70 seat regional jet aircraft to be used on regional routes. The types have not been decided yet, but the Bombardier CRJ-700 and the Embraer ERJ-170 are likely candidates.

During March 2007, MEA Chairman Mohamad El-Hout said in an interview that the airline has four Airbus A330s and four A319s on order. The airline will start taking delivery of the aircraft in June 2008.

Middle East Airlines operates to the following international scheduled destinations from Beirut (as of June 2006):

MEA also codeshares with the French National Railways, SNCF, to 15 destinations in France on the high-speed TGV train.

The MEA fleet consists of the following aircraft as of November 2006:[1]

MEA Middle Eastern Airlines Fleet
Aircraft Total Passengers
(First/Economy)		 Notes
Airbus A321-200 6 149 (31/118) Short-medium haul routes
Airbus A330-200 3
(4 orders)		 250 (42/208) Short-medium haul routes
Airbus A319 (4 orders)

Middle East Airlines (MEA) fully owns the following subsidiaries, although they are operated independently.

  • Middle East Airports Services (MEAS)
Operates and maintains Beirut's International Airport from cleaning the rest rooms in the terminal to de-rubberizing the runways.
  • Middle East Airlines Ground Handling (MEAG)
The dominant ground handling company in Beirut's International Airport handling nearly 80% of all customers. Recently launched fixed base operator services from the new General Aviation Terminal under the name Cedar Jet Center.
  • Mideast Aircraft Services Company (MASCO)
The only fully fledged aircraft maintenance provider in Beirut's International Airport specialized in maintaining Airbus aircraft. The company is PART 145 certified which allows it to carry maintenance on European registered aircraft. Main clients include Cyprus Airways.

In the music video of "Beautiful Day" by U2, there is a brief scene of a MEA A330 taking off.

  1. ^ Middle East Airlines Corporate Fleet Information

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Members of the SkyTeam Alliance

Aeroflot • Aeroméxico • Air France • Alitalia • Continental Airlines • Czech Airlines • Delta Air Lines • KLM • Korean Air • Northwest Airlines
Future members: China Southern Airlines
Future associate members: Air Europa • COPA • Kenya Airways • MEA • TAROM

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Members of the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO)

Afriqiyah Airways • Air Algérie • Air Arabia • EgyptAir • Emirates • Etihad Airways • Gulf Air • Iraqi Airways • Jordan Aviation • Kuwait Airways • Libyan Airways • Middle East Airlines • Oman Air • Palestinian Airlines • Qatar Airways • Royal Air Maroc • Royal Jordanian • Saudi Arabian Airlines • Sudan Airways • Syrian Arab Airlines • Trans Mediterranean Airways • Tunisair • Yemenia

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