What is Middle East Airlines?

Information about Middle East Airlines

Middle East Airlines Air Liban
IATA
ME		ICAO
MEA		Callsign
CEDAR JET
Founded1945
HubsBeirut Rafic Hariri International Airport
Frequent flyer programCedar Miles
Member loungeCedar Lounge
AllianceSkyTeam (Applied for Associate Member status sponsored by Air France, expected in 2008)
Fleet size9 (+10 orders)
Destinations26
Parent companyMiddle East Airlines / Air Liban SAL
HeadquartersBeirut, Lebanon
Key peopleMohammad El-Hout (CEO)
Website: [1]


Middle East Airlines (Arabic: طيران الشرق الأوسط), also known by its full 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 and is based at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport.[1]

Middle East Airlines (MEA) is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization and the International Air Transport Association. The airline expressed its interest in becoming a SkyTeam associate member in early 2006 at a press conference in New York and the process should be completed by early 2008. [2]

History

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.
Enlarge picture
MEA Airbus A330-200 landing
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 December 15, 1960, the first of four de Havilland Comet 4Cs arrived. After the association with BOAC ended on August 16, 1961, MEA was merged with Air Liban on June 7, 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 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.

The airline is majority owned by the Banque du Liban (99.37%) and employs 2,437 staff (at March 2007).[1]
Enlarge picture
MEA Airbus A330-200 taking off


Enlarge picture
MEA at the Hariri-Beirut International Airport


Enlarge picture
MEA Airbus A330-200 landing

Destinations

Middle East Airlines operates to the following international scheduled destinations: [3]

Africa

Europe

Middle East

Planned

MEA should begin flying daily to Frankfurt and "most probably" will add Moscow, Zurich, Khartoum, Canada, Brazil and Australia as destinations. [4]

Fleet

The MEA fleet consists of the following aircraft as of May 2007:
MEA Middle Eastern Airlines Fleet
Aircraft Total Passengers
(First/Economy)		 Notes
Airbus A320-200(6 orders)Converted from A319
Airbus A321-2006149 (31/118)Short-medium haul routes
Airbus A330-2003
(4 orders)		250 (42/208)Short-medium haul routes (Current 3 will be returned after delivery of the 4 new aircraft)
Airbus A3802 orders525
  • During an interview with MEA Chairman Mr. Mohamad El-Hout in March 2007, he indicated that the airline has four Airbus A330s and four A319s (converted to A320) on order and that they will start taking delivery of these aircraft in June 2008.
  • On June 27, 2007, Middle East Airlines announced it will be taking a $60,000,000 loan from Lebanese banking company Fransabank to purchase two Airbus A380s, and the loan must be paid off in 10 years.

Codeshare agreements

Subsidiaries

Middle East Airlines (MEA) fully owns the following subsidiaries, although they are operated independently.
  • Middle East Airports Services (MEAS)
:Operates and maintains Beirut's Rafic Hariri 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 Rafic Hariri 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 Rafic Hariri 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.

References

External links

 •  • [ e]
Members of the SkyTeam Alliance
Aeroflot  Aeromxico  Air France  Alitalia  Continental Airlines  Czech Airlines  Delta Air Lines  KLM  Korean Air  Northwest Airlines
Associate members: Air Europa  Copa Airlines  Kenya Airways
Future members: China Southern Airlines
Future associate members: MEA  TAROM
 •  • [ e]
Members of the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO)



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Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport (formerly Chaldea Airport) (IATA: BEY, ICAO: OLBA) (Arabic: مطار بيروت رفيق الحريري
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Beirut
بيروت?
Place de l'Étoile in Centre-Ville Beyrouth
Location in the Republic of Lebanon
Coordinates:
Governorate Beirut
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Kūllūnā li-l-waṭan, li-l-'ula wa-l-'alam   (Arabic)
"Nous sommes tous pour le pays, la sublimation et le drapeau!"
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Chief Executive Officer (CEO), or chief executive, is the highest-ranking corporate officer, administrator, corporate administrator, executive, or executive officer, in charge of total management of a corporation, company, organization or agency.
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al-‘Arabiyyah in written Arabic (Kufic script):  
Pronunciation: /alˌʕa.raˈbij.ja/
Spoken in: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman,
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al-‘Arabiyyah in written Arabic (Kufic script):  
Pronunciation: /alˌʕa.raˈbij.ja/
Spoken in: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman,
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airline provides air transport services for passengers or freight, generally with a recognized operating certificate or license. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit.
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Motto
Kūllūnā li-l-waṭan, li-l-'ula wa-l-'alam   (Arabic)
"Nous sommes tous pour le pays, la sublimation et le drapeau!"
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Beirut
بيروت?
Place de l'Étoile in Centre-Ville Beyrouth
Location in the Republic of Lebanon
Coordinates:
Governorate Beirut
Government
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Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area.
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Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport (formerly Chaldea Airport) (IATA: BEY, ICAO: OLBA) (Arabic: مطار بيروت رفيق الحريري
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Saeb Salam (1905-21 January 2000) (Arabic: صائب سلام) was a Lebanese politician, who served as Prime Minister four times between 1952 and 1973.
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