Lebanese interests put up the capital to form this carrier in September 1945. Regularly scheduled de Havilland DH 89A passenger flights begin on November 20 over a Beirut-Nicosia route. DH 89A service to Baghdad is inaugurated on February 15, 1946; on June 14, the British-made biplanes are replaced by Douglas DC-3s. Pan American Airways (PAA) acquires a 36% interest in the operator.
The U. S.-made transports expand the company’s route network during the remainder of the year and in 1947. The war in Palestine in 1948 closes the company’s stations at Haifa and Lydda.
During 1949-1954, the Pan Am supplies pilots and three more DC-3s. This allows upgrading and increases in Middle East routes and frequencies. A marketing agreement is also signed with Air France during July 1949, with the French flag carrier taking a 28% minority stake. In addition to the original 1945 markets, MEA-1 now serves Damascus, Haifa, Lydda, Cairo, and Baghdad.
In January 1955, Pan Am’s association is terminated, with the American carrier’s interest being purchased by the Intra Bank of Beirut. In February, however, the airline becomes a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) subsidiary. On June 10, the ex-BOAC Handley Pages HP-81 Hermes 4 Hestia, now operated by Skyways, Ltd., is leased, along with her sister the Honor. In September, two Vickers Viscount 732s are leased under a two-year contract from Hunting-Clan Air Transport, Ltd. On October 2, the first is delivered; it enters service on a Beirut-Rome route via Athens on November 1.
Under British tutelage, the airline adds additional Viscount 754Ds during 1957-1959 and service is extended to a variety of new points in North Africa, the Middle East, and southern Europe.
On October 3, 1957, a Viscount en route from Beirut to Kuwait crashes into the sea just after takeoff from Beirut (31 dead).
En route from Beirut on September 29, 1958, an Avro 685 York C.1 freighter with five crew is lost in the Mediterranean; there are no survivors.
A de Havilland DH 106 Comet 4B is leased from British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) on October 1, 1960 and enters service on October 30. Also in October, the HP-81 Hestia is leased by its owner to Bahamas Airways, Ltd. The carrier’s first owned Comet 4C is delivered on December 19.
Comet 4C service is inaugurated to London on January 6, 1961. On August 16, BOAC’s holding is terminated. The MASCO hangars and workshops are purchased from BOAC and a computer center is opened.
Sheikh Najib Alamuddin campaigns for an amalgamation of all Lebanese airlines into a single national carrier during 1962. On February 1, 1963, near Ankara, a Viscount with 14 aboard collides with a Turkish military transport carrying 87; there are no survivors from either aircraft and 97 others are killed on the ground.
In March 1963, MEA-1 enters into a joint agreement with Lebanese International Airlines, S. A.L. and Air Liban, S. A.L.; the associates operate under joint schedules and merge the operations of their Comets, Viscounts, and Air Liban’s two Sud SE-210 Caravelles VINs. Enplane-ments for the year total 303,821.
MIDDLE EAST AIRLINES, S. A.L. (2): Airport Blvd., P. O. Box 206, Beirut, Lebanon; Phone 961 (1) 629 125; Fax 961 (1) 629 260; Http://www. mea. com. lb; Code mE; Year Founded 1963. In 1964,
MEA-2’s first full year of operation, airline employment is 3,166. An SE-210 Caravelle VIN with 49 aboard, crashes while landing at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on April 17; there are no survivors. In November, a third replacement SE-210 is delivered and a month later, former Executive Vice President Asad Nasr becomes general manager.
Passenger boardings rise 20% to 379,776. Freight traffic grows by 23% and revenues of $30.1 million are earned.
The workforce grows to 3,206 in 1965. Air Liban, S. A.L. is fully merged into the carrier, which now takes the name Middle East Airlines Airliban, S. A.L. Majority ownership (62.5%) is vested in the Lebanese private Intra Bank/Investment Company, with Air France having a 28.5% share. Comet 4C service is inaugurated to Zurich in September and the number of flights to Aden, Cairo, and London is increased. Three Douglas DC-8-61s are ordered and by year’s end, the fleet comprises 3 Caravelle VINs, 4 Comet 4Cs, 2 DC-3s, 1 DC-4, and 3 Viscount 754Ds.
Passenger boardings jump 12% to 427,446.
The two DC-3s and single DC-4 are discarded in 1966. The B-720-060B Queen of Sheba is leased from Ethiopian Airlines, S. C. for 22 months on January 1. Although the company’s largest shareholder, the Intra Bank/Investment Company, collapses, enplanements climb to 456,000.
The employee population in 1967 stands at 3,285. A Comet 4 is leased from British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and in April a Vickers Standard VC10 is leased from Ghana Airways Corporation. A VC10, a B-720-060B, and two Concordes are ordered, although the latter will never be delivered.
The B-720B Queen of Sheba is returned to Ethiopian Airlines, S. C. in October. On November, she is replaced on the MEA register by the B-720-060B The Blue Nile.
As a result of the Six-Day War and attendant political difficulties, passenger boardings decline, primarily on short-haul routes, to 403,732; however, freight is up by 19.3%. Overall revenues accelerate 15.4%.
In 1968, the workforce slips to 3,565. In addition to the aircraft chartered the year before, the company maintains a fleet of 4 Comet 4Cs, 3 SE-210 Caravelle VINs, and 3 Vickers Viscount 754Ds.
The Blue Nile is hit by lighting while landing at Beirut on January 9; although the aircraft must be written off, there are no fatalities.
In response to a Palestinian hijacking of an El Al Israel Airline, Ltd. plane in October, two Israeli helicopters filled with commandos under the command of Rafael Eytan, attack Beirut airport after dark on December 28. The force destroys or damages beyond repair a B-707-3B4C, three DH 106 Comet 4Cs, two SE-219 Caravelle VINs (plus five others from Arab nations and the Ghanaian VC10) in minutes. Within 24 hours, the staff returns to work and operations are restarted with six Convair CV-990As leased from American Airlines.
On the year, freight grows 48% and passenger bookings advance 16% to 469,415. Revenues are $47 million, and a 10th consecutive net profit is recorded—before the tragedy of December’s raid.
In April 1969, privately owned Lebanese International Airlines, S. A.L. is purchased and merged while a Standard VC10 (the prototype aircraft) is leased from Laker Airways, Ltd.
Arrangements are completed with American Airlines for the lease and purchase of a fleet of nine Convair CV-990A Coronados that have become surplus to the American major. All are delivered between June and December.
The year’s systemwide enplanements soar to 545,272.
The workforce in 1970 drops 1.2% to 3,797. By spring, the Convairs, labeled “Cedar Jets,” are operating most of MEA-2’s services from
Beirut to such destinations as Amman, Ankara, Cairo, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Geneva, Istanbul, Milan, Paris, Vienna, and Zurich.
The fleet is reorganized later in the year; under a new arrangement with American Airlines, the leased Convairs will be returned and replaced with nine B-720-023Bs (B-720Bs). Simultaneously, one Comet 4C and one SE-210 are sold.
Cargo accelerates 30.6% and passenger traffic grows 15.1% to 642,252.
Three additional B-720-023Bs (B-720Bs) and three B-707-323Cs, all formerly operated by American Airlines, enter service in 1971. Unduplicated route mileage in the Middle East, West Africa, Europe, and the Indian subcontinent now totals 40,000.
In November, joint venture flights commence with Nigeria Airways, Ltd. on routes from Beirut to Lagos and Kano.
Bookings this year rise to 776,000.
Capitalization is increased in 1972 with 50,000 of the new shares sold to the carrier’s 4,430 employees. A fleet standardization program is begun: on hand are 3 B-707-323Cs, 12 B-720-023Bs (B-720Bs), 1 Comet 4C, and 1 SE-210 Caravelle VIN. The last of the Convairs is returned to American Airlines by February.
Operations to Istanbul are resumed and service to Muscat is introduced; frequencies are also increased on several European routes.
Passenger boardings rise 5% to 817,000.
The workforce in 1973 totals 4,502 and 4 additional B-720-023Bs enter service. A decision in principle is reached by company officials for operations to several East European nations; flights will be conducted in pool with the airlines of the nations concerned. On August 11, the company Caravelle, chartered by Iraqi Airways and en route from Beirut to Baghdad, is forced by fighter planes to land at an Israeli military airfield where it is hoped to capture members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). An official of the Tel Aviv government must admit, however, that the wrong plane has been intercepted. The gambit is condemned at the UN.
Drunk and determined to “show Israelis that not all Arabs are enemies of Israel,” M. el-Toumi, a Libyan passenger who claims no affiliation with any guerrilla group, seizes a B-720-023B with 100 passengers en route from Beirut to Benghazi on August 17 and forces it to land at Ly-dda Airport. Israeli security police board the aircraft and arrest the pirate. Upon examination, he will be judged insane and will be sent to a mental institution.
Enplanements grow 8.1% to 883,177 and freight traffic jumps 19.3%.
In 1974 , routes are extended to Tripoli and Yerevan, Soviet Armenia. Orders are placed for three B-747-2B4Bs as three ex-Western Airlines B-720-047Bs are added.
Passenger bookings jump 21% to pass the million-mark for the first time—1,158,841. A total of 47,671,000 FTKs are operated. On revenues of $186 million, a net $15.7-million profit is recorded.
The workforce in 1975 is 5,500. In January, the carrier receives the 1974 “Technology Management Award” from Air Transport Worldmag-azine.
The first B-747-2B4B combi is delivered on May 30, followed on June 20 by a second. Also in June, a code-sharing agreement is signed with Iberia Spanish Airlines (2) (Lineas Areas de Espana, S. A.) covering a Beirut-Madrid route.
The new wide-bodies enter service on July 1, flying from Beirut to London and destinations along the Persian Gulf and are joined by a third Dash-2B4BC, delivered on August 20. MEA-2 is the first airline in the region to fly Jumbojets.
Cargo rises 3%, but due to the nation’s strife, passenger traffic dips 1.2% to 1,075,900. A $5.8-million loss is suffered, only the third negative income reported in the carrier’s combined 30-year history.
The workforce decreases by 17% in 1976 to 4,530. On January 1, Flight 438, a B-720B with 15 crew and 66 passengers en route from Beirut to Muscat via Dubai disintegrates at 37,000 ft. and crashes into the desert 40 km. NW of Al Qaysumah, Saudi Arabia. There are no survivors of this terrorist act that will later be confirmed as having been caused by a bomb explosion in the forward baggage compartment.
When Beirut Airport comes under rocket and cannon attack on June 27, a taxiing B-720-023B, which has just deplaned its passengers, is hit and destroyed; one flight crew member is killed and two others injured.
Civil disturbances force the carrier to operate charter and contract service flights for six months, beginning in July, from temporary bases at Paris (ORY) and London in an effort to defray mounting expenses.
Beirut airport is closed for 168 days. During this period, company engineers construct a single sideband radio that provides two-way communications with crews stranded outside Lebanon. Late in the year, MEA-2 is able to return to Beirut and restart scheduled operations, but must put its Jumbojets up for charter. Aviation fuel is so scarce that company aircraft often must be sent to Athens to fill up; upon their return to Beirut, fuel is siphoned from their tanks to other jetliners.
Passenger boardings plummet by 67.5%.
On June 1, 1977, two B-747-2B4BCs are leased to Saudia (Saudi Arabian Airlines). Wheelchair-bound Nasser Ali Abu Khaled hijacks a B-707-323C with 112 aboard en route from Beirut to Baghdad on June 5 and diverts it to Kuwait, where officials take him into custody. The pirate will be released, on humanitarian grounds, on August 28 and deported to Lebanon.
Enplanements this year climb back up 1,642,000 as the carrier begins to recover from the 1975-1976 civil war.
The employee population is up 9.8% in 1978 to 4,898. New seats are installed in the B-707-323Cs and service is resumed to Kano, Lagos, and Monrovia. New chairman/president Asaad Nasr’s fleet now comprises 1 B-747-2B4BC in use (with 2 still with Saudia: Saudi Arabian Airlines), 3 B-707-323Cs, and 14 B-720Bs. A team is established to study replacements for the 17 older aircraft.
Freight falls 4.5% and passenger traffic dips 7.6% to 932,853.
En route from Beirut to Amman on January 16, 1979, a B-707-323C with 73 passengers is taken over by 6 pistol-waving skyjackers, who demand that the aircraft be diverted to Cyprus, in order that they might have a press conference at which to demand the release of a religious leader. Cyprus denies permission to land; however, once the pirates agree to return to Lebanon, they are allowed to have their media event— and then surrender.
Several routes are realigned and Chairman/President Nasr assembles a completely new management team to provide strong leadership. A new IBM 370/115 computer is turned on at the Beirut headquarters.
Passenger bookings soar 11.5% to 1,040,476 and cargo grows 7.7%.
Airline employment is increased by 6.3% in 1980 to 5,450 while the fleet includes 22 aircraft in January.
On January 18, an unidentified Lebanese teenager hijacks a B-720-023B with 80 aboard en route from Beirut to Cyprus, demanding to be taken to Iran to ask Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to intercede with the Libyans to find Imam Musa Sadr, the missing Shiite leader. He is talked into returning to Beirut, where he is allowed to hold a press conference before surrendering.
On January 28, with the same goal of applying pressure on the search for Sadr, another religious fanatic with his wife and four children in tow captures a B-720B en route from Beirut to Baghdad. Upon arrival in Iraq, arrangements are made to allow the man to read a speech before he gives up to police.
En route from Lebanon to Bahrain on May 23, a B-720-023B is forced to make an emergency landing in Amman following a bomb threat; no bomb is found. Orders are placed later in the year for five Airbus Industrie A310s and Tunis is added to the route system. An automated passenger handling and reservation system is turned on at Beirut.
Freight advances 3.5% to 36.44 million FTKs and passenger boardings grow a slight 0.02%. Revenues of $247 million are generated.
The employee population grows by 1.9% in 1981 to 5,553. Construction begins at Beirut on the carrier’s Jumbojet hangars.
Having arrived at Beirut from Libya on an August 31 scheduled service, a B-720-023B, which has deplaned its passengers and crew and been towed to a static position, is extensively damaged when a bomb explodes aboard. Although the aircraft must be written off, there are no fatalities.
Two B-707-3B4Cs enter service, but the renewed civil disturbance impacts heavily upon traffic: cargo falls 7.9% to 33.55 million FTKs and passenger boardings drop 11.1% to 937,000. Still, a net 5.4-million profit is reported.
Another traumatic year is suffered in 1982 as the result of domestic strife and the Israeli invasion. At Beirut International Airport, Israeli warplanes destroy six B-707-323Cs/720Bs on the ground and damage two others. Scheduled operations from Beirut are halted for 115 days, although some service is operated from Europe to Larnaca, allowing connecting water transport to Lebanon. The carrier operates charter and contract service flights from temporary facilities at Paris as it did in 1976. Salim Salaam is now CEO.
Overall passenger bookings decline 32.3% to 634,919 and cargo falls 25.9% to 24.87 million FTKs. Revenues drop to $198 million, expenses soar to $228 million, and a net $15.2- million loss is taken.
Strife continues at Beirut in 1983, forcing further major service interruptions. The two B-747-2B4BCs leased to Saudia (Saudi Arabian Airlines) are returned early in the first quarter; on March 3, service is inaugurated from Lebanon to New York (JFK) via Paris. The company is able to reach a compromise with Lloyd’s of London on August 19 to preserve its war-risk insurance, which is due to expire by day’s end. In returned for continuing coverage, the British underwriters insist that MEA’s three Jumbojets not remain at Beirut.
Enplanements for the year reach 795,961.
As a result of particularly hard fighting in 1984, Beirut International Airport is shut down for another 154 days, forcing MEA-2 to suspend all but a few charter flights between February 6 and July 9. The shutdown costs the airline an estimated $46 million. When the airport is reopened, the first MEA-2 aircraft lands one hour after the runways are certified safe.
En route from Abu Dhabi to Beirut on July 21, a B-707-323C with 146 passengers is hijacked by a lone pirate with a Molotov cocktail, who demands to return to the point of origin. Nearly out of fuel, the captain persuades the man to allow the plane to land in Lebanon. In exchange, the skyjacker is allowed to hold a public news conference—and then he surrenders.
The Jumbojet service to the U. S. ends and the three B-747-2B4BCs are sold to the Irish leasing firm Guinness Peat and leased back. “Soft” loans are received from several local banks. In November, a commercial agreement is signed with Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G.
Among the passengers deplaning at Dubai on December 4 after a flight from Beirut are a group of terrorists that MEA security has failed to detect. The pirates board a Kuwait Airways Corporation aircraft that they take over, killing two Americans before the aircraft is reclaimed.
Passenger boardings for the year are only 387,000.
The carrier begins to rebuild in 1985, despite a 2.6% drop in the employee population to 4,843. The fleet now includes 3 B-747-2B4BCs, 8 B-707-3B4C and B-707-323B/Cs, and 6 B-720Bs; the 3 Jumbojets are subleased to British Airways, Ltd. (2). Routes suspended during the height of the 1982-1984 fighting are restarted with the B-707s and B-720Bs.
A disgruntled airport guard demanding promotion seizes Flight 203, a B-747-047B with 104 passengers, for five hours on February 22, forcing it to fly back and forth twice between Beirut and Cyprus. The incident results in the death of one passenger who is sucked out of the open door as the plane takes off on its first run and ends with the hijacker disappearing, apparently into a Beirut shantytown.
En route from Beirut to Jeddah on April 1, a B-707-323C with 76 passengers is captured by a lone assailant claiming to have a gun and a bomb. Shouting demands that the government of Lebanon provide financial assistance to the anti-Israel guerrillas operating in the southern part of the country, the pirate is eventually calmed down and persuaded to allow the Stratoliner to land at its destination. There he gives up and is taken in hand by Saudi police.
On June 12, in retaliation for the destruction of an Alia (Royal Jordanian Airlines) airliner by Shiite extremists earlier in the day, a Palestinian hijacks a B-707-323C that has just arrived at Larnaca from Beirut with 86 aboard. All of the passengers are allowed to leave and authorities grant the gunman’s request to be flown to Amman, where he is arrested. A B-747-133, formerly flown by Air Canada, Ltd., is leased on June 24 for the summer season; it will be returned in September.
Members of the transport workers union at New York (JFK), meanwhile, refuse to service a B-747-2B4BC that arrives on June 26, with the union’s leader announcing that his people do not work “for the convenience of terrorists.” In response to the hijacking of a Trans World Airlines (TWA) B-727-231A, Flight 847, President Ronald Reagan orders an end to the company’s two weekly Jumbojet services to the U. S. as of July 1. In August, MEA flies a TWA crew into Beirut to retrieve the Boeing.
Two B-720-047Bs are lost on the ground at Beirut on August 21.
Despite these incidents, cargo traffic for the year skyrockets 63.8% to 33.03 million FTKs and passenger boardings jump 24.2% to 510,000.
Given the previous year’s unrest, the fortieth birthday is actually celebrated in February 1986. As a result of the company’s perceived role in the previous year’s hijacking of Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 847 as well as Lebanon’s acquiescence in the kidnapping of American citizens, MEA’s services to the U. S. remain suspended by the U. S. government. Still, another former Air Canada, Ltd. B-747 Jumbojet, a Dash-121, is leased on May 30 for use during the summer and is returned in September.
Just after the 126 passengers have deplaned, a B-707-323C is destroyed by shelling at Beirut on January 8, 1987.
A B-747-2B4BC is now leased to Air France, which subleases it to Air Inter, S. A. Civil strife forces Beirut International Airport to shut down for another 107 days after February 1.
Although operations are almost normal during 1988, the Christian militia of Gen. Michel Aoun blockades Beirut International Airport for six months between February and September 1989. When services resume in October, MEA is able to halt its daily losses of $150,000.
During the remainder of the year and into the 1990s, Chairman/ President Abdul Hamid Pakhoury and Managing Director Yousef Lehoud are able to restart or expand services to Abidjan, Abu Dhabi, Accra, Aden, Amman, Amsterdam, Athens, Baghdad, Bahrain, Berlin, Brussels, Cairo, Copenhagen, Damascus, Dhahran, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Freetown, Geneva, Istanbul, Jeddah, Kano, Khartoum, Kuwait, Lagos, Larnaca, London, Madrid, Milan, Muscat, Nice, Paris, Riyadh, Rome, Tripoli, Tunis, and Zurich.
Although plans for the acquisition of three B-757-200s are announced in May 1990, following the end of the civil war, Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August and the subsequent Mideast conflict forces the carrier to cancel this option. The devaluation of the Lebanese pound now turns the airline’s capital, worth $50 million before the civil war, into a mere $100,000.
Enplanements for the year total 727,844 and a $24.26-million loss is suffered.
The last four operational B-720-047Bs/-023Bs are officially retired in 1991. A B-720B is sold to the Irish carrier Omega Air, Ltd. in January. When peace in Lebanon is restored, it is recorded that, in the years since the civil war began, 40 employees have died in the company’s service. It will also be later noted that the Muslim militias have forced the company to hire a large number of their partisans, many of whom are unqualified, leading to excessive personnel costs.
In March, a commercial agreement is signed with Ghana Airways, Ltd. Bookings this year decline to 645,911; however, the bottom line figure is improved as only an $8.83-million loss is taken.
In April 1992, the KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines, N. V.) Airbus Industrie A310-203s Jan Steen and Frans Hals are leased for a three-year period. Flights are initiated to Singapore on June 4 and are extended to Sydney on December 15.
The new route assists overall reservations to rise to 701,805. On the negative side, the loss skyrockets to $99.2 million.
In 1993, airline employment stands at 4,399 and the fleet includes the chartered Airbuses plus 3 each B-747-2B4BCs, B-707-323Cs, 2
B-707-3B4Cs, and 1 each A310-304 leased from Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G., and B-707-323B. MEA is now the world’s largest B-707 operator.
A new recovery plan is unveiled and is approved by shareholder Air France. It fails to take off and the company now encounters stiffer competition from 20 foreign companies that have resumed flights to Beirut that were suspended during the civil war.
A new market is opened at Colombo in November following the October signing of a code-sharing agreement with Air Lanka, Ltd.
Also during the year, MEA introduces its Butterfly program, an annual internship for approximately 700 Mideast college students.
Passenger boardings swell to 791,700 and the loss totals $20.79 million.
Operations continue apace in 1994. In deep financial trouble, Chairman Pakhoury reports that the carrier must increase its capitalization by $100 million over the next three years if it is to survive. Two recent management studies are completed and show the company to be overstaffed by 1,200 employees.
Two B-720-047Bs not yet sold are returned to service in June to supplement the B-707s on non-European routes; one of the impressed aircraft, its airframe time exhausted, is permanently retired in October. Plans are made to celebrate the company’s fiftieth anniversary.
Bookings for the year climb to 816,148 and the airline, which has not made a profit in this decade, suffers another disappointing financial downturn, to $53.49 million.
The workforce is cut by 1.2% in 1995 to 4,128 and the last 2 B-720Bs are phased out. All three B-747-2B4BCs are wet-leased to Garuda Indonesia in May for the Hadj season.
A half-century of service is celebrated, while several older routes to Freetown, Khartoum, Tunis, and Madrid are curtailed during the fourth quarter. After years of political squabbles among Lebanon’s top decisionmakers over a change in the airline’s management, Khaled Salaam is appointed by the board in September to the posts of chairman/president.
The two B-720Bs are finally sold, in December, to Pratt & Whitney Canada and two B-747-2B4BCs are leased to Philippine Air Lines (PAL) on December 15. The company’s first South American route is inaugurated on December 27, weekly by B-747-2B4BC to Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Abidjan.
Enplanements increase by 2.1% to 769,763 and cargo is ahead by a full 10% to 43 million FTKs. Despite these positive traffic reports, losses are posted: $38.21 million (operating) and $34.77 million (net).
The number of employees is reduced another 5% in 1996 to 3,921 and 3 A310-304s enter service; orders are outstanding, with ILFC for 2 A320-232s and 2 A321-231s.
A block-space agreement is inaugurated with Malaysia Airways, Ltd. (MAS) in January. The pact covers flights between Beirut and Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, and on to Sydney, Australia. Also during the month, first-class service is replaced with a new SuperClub product on short - and medium-haul routes. In February, an A310-203 is chartered from ILFC for 14 months.
The first dual-designator service to Kuala Lumpur is operated on February 4. The next day, flights commence to Bucharest. In April, a commercial arrangement is signed with Air Afrique, S. A. for code-sharing on frequencies from Abidjan to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Also during April, Israel bombs Lebanon for 17 days, shattering the nation’s, and the airline’s, plans to attract tourists. A 12% increase in passengers for the year evaporates and it will later be reported that the attacks have cost MEA approximately $12 million in lost revenues.
On July 25, Chairman Salaam announces that the carrier will receive a $100-million capital infusion from the Lebanese central bank, which will be employed to retire the company’s debts, which are mostly owed to government-controlled entities. Following the first tranche in October, another $125 million will be made available, which will allow MEA-2 to embark on a rehabilitation plan to modernize its fleet and restructure operations.
In a ruling by the three-judge U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, MEA-2 is found guilty, as a signatory to various interline agreements, for not protecting “all air travelers from unreasonable risk of foreseeable harm caused by terrorists and/or hijackers.” This suit, filed against the airline holding it liable for the death of two Americans in the terrorist hijacking at Kuwait on December 4, 1984, sets a precedent in U. S. law that airlines carrying terrorists may be held responsible for their later actions, even if they occur on another carrier.
Customer bookings this year slide 0.6% to 789,485, but 46.27 million FTKs are operated, a 7.6% increase. Operating revenues are off 5.9% to $252.8 million, but costs are down only 1.8% to $301.5 million. The operating loss deepens to $48.7 million and the net loss is $56.7 million.
The employee population is increased by 22.4% in 1997 to 4,800. Pilots, flight attendants, and ground personnel, seeking a pay raise, stage a 24-hour strike on January 21, forcing the carrier to cancel 15 flights. Activity at Beirut is also disrupted by the work stoppage as five foreign airlines, to which MEA provides ground services, are also forced to cancel their flights into the Lebanese capital. Chairman Salaam rejects the wage demands and calls the job action “illegal.”
During early February, the company adopts a new color scheme that coincides with the delivery of its first A320-232. Service starts to Bombay.
In March, the government of Lebanon doubles its stake, acquiring 99% of all company shares. Aviation consultants from Germany and France are brought in to assist in reorganization.
The company now determines it a wiser policy to lease its aircraft instead of purchasing them and begins seeking buyers for 11 older Boeings. On May 1 agreement is reached, via the good offices of Fortis Aviation, for the carrier to sell its three B-747-2B4BCs to American International Airways (3) for $60 million. The last A320-232 and both A321-231s arrive in May. The three Jumbojets will be delivered in September.
U. S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright visits Beirut on September 15; the occasion leads to a lifting of the U. S. government travel ban to Lebanon. The first U. S. dignitary to return is former U. S. ambassador John Kelly, who arrives the next day aboard Flight 218, the A321-232 service from Frankfurt.
In November and December, the government looks into Beirut media charges that senior company officials have taken $5 million in kickbacks in connection with the order for the new Airbus A321s.
At the end of the year, the company is purchased by the Lebanese Central Bank (99.7%).
Enplanements for the year total 940,000 and a large $87.43-million operating loss is suffered, blamed in part on its lease of three Airbus jetliners at a price $7.7 million above what it had expected to pay.
With 4,800 employees, MEA-2, at the beginning of 1998, is still Lebanon’s single largest employer. In January, the new owners inject $190 million in new capital and appoint a new board, which includes former Air France Chairman Christian Blanc. Mohamad A. el-Hout, who has overseen the MEA account at the Lebanese Central Bank, is named chairman/CEO and he is given a mandate to institute a new strategy that will provide recovery.
Chairman el-Hout delivers his four-point recovery plan on April 1. At the top of the list is an overhaul of the route network. Long-haul services will be abandoned and the company will concentrate on providing flights to 20 destinations in the Mideast and in Europe.
During the first week of May, the first route cut is a weekly service from Beirut to Sydney, Australia, while roundtrips are started to Bombay. Over the next several months, flights will be withdrawn from Accra, Bahrain, Berlin, Brussels, Bucharest, Copenhagen, and Kano.
To handle his new route system, el-Hout decides to operate an allAirbus fleet and to dispose of his Boeing 747s and B-707s. In protest, company pilots stage a one-day strike on July 16.
Efforts are also begun to find a strategic marketing and code-share partner. Although the carrier maintains close working relationships with both American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways, Ltd., the first choice is Air France, with which flag line negotiations are undertaken.
The company also hopes to expand into various subsidiary operations, such as catering and aircraft handling. A significant example is the creation at this point by the company (66%) and Aerospatiale’s overhaul affiliate Sogerma (34%) of a joint maintenance company, known as Masco, at Beirut International Airport. The new concern takes over the maintenance activities of the airline. At the same time, a $600-million passenger terminal is completed at Beirut International Airport.
Scheduled to begin in the new year, a major commercial agreement is signed with Air France on September 3. Flights to Sao Paulo, the last of the company’s eight long-haul destinations, end in September.
An agreement is signed between Lebanon and Iran on October 22 under which MEA-2 will begin service to Tehran early in 1999. The pact also contains a provision for later discussions in which Iranian airlines might begin flying to Beirut.
During the year, costs are cut 28.2% to $167.9 million. The year’s loss is $42.26 million, an improvement, but still far from profitability. It is reported by the airline that, since 1989, the government has invested over $250 million into the airline.
The fleet in early 1999 is reduced to just 9 aircraft and in other costcutting moves, maintenance work is outsourced and many foreign offices are closed.
It is announced in Beirut on February 15 that under the dual-designator pact signed with Air France the previous September 3, the two companies will offer 19 weekly joint services between Paris and Lebanon beginning on June 1.
The Beirut Daily Star reports on March 2 that MEAhas complained to the government of Lebanon that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, N. V. has been allowed to fly too many services into the capital city, thereby causing MEA-2’s losses to deepen.
Chairman el-Hout seeks to downsize his workforce by 50% as unions for MEA pilots, flight attendants, and ground staff continue to fight retrenchment. On March 18, the Daily Star reports that the airline’s staff has threatened to initiate a sit-down strike if the government moves forward with a restructuring plan that causes job losses. At this point, the national transport ministry reports that it is paying $6 million per month to keep MEA flying.
Following a 20-year suspension in service caused by the Lebanese civil war, MEA-2, on May 17, resumes twice-weekly roundtrip service to Tehran.
MEA’s campaign to terminate the government’s “open skies” aviation policy fails miserably as Lebanese Transport and Public Works Minister Najib Mikati increases the number of flights by foreign airlines authorized to fly into Beirut by 12% during the summer. Although local travel agencies are pleased, Chairman al-Hout indicates that he cannot compete and that all of the work by the airline’s dedicated personnel to keep the airline flying “will end up in failure.”
Flights continue in 2000. On June 12, arrangements are completed to sell six stored B-707 Stratofreighters to Air Gulf Falcon.
MEA joins in a dual-designator pact with Malaysia Airlines, Ltd. (MAS) on June 13. The code-sharing agreement with MAS begins on June 16, with MAS placing its designator on MEA services from Beirut to Sydney via Kuala Lumpur, while MEA puts its code on MAS flights from Kuala Lumpur to Beirut
MIDDLE STATES AIRLINES: United States (1929). Formed at Akron, Ohio, in the spring of 1929, MSA’s owners order a pair of Lockheed Model 5 Vegas and in June launch scheduled passenger flights to Detroit via Cleveland and Toledo. En route to Akron on its August 11 delivery flight, the company’s second Vega, piloted by Orville Stephens with two passengers, crashes at Clovis, New Mexico (three dead).
Just after takeoff from Pittsburgh on August 12, pilot Harry Smith is killed when he crashes the other Vega into telephone wires. Without aircraft and with insufficient funds to obtain replacements, operations cease in September.
MIDFLY INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS, A. S.: Denmark (19851989). Midfly is organized at Skjern in 1985 to offer air ambulance and air taxi flights, plus passenger and cargo charters. A branch office is established at Kolind. Managing Director Bent Larsen’s initial fleet comprises 1 each Cessna 421, Cessna 414, Piper Seneca, and Fairchild-Swearingen Metro II. Following 18 months of nonscheduled operations, Midfly acquires a Metro III with which to inaugurate scheduled services to Copenhagen and Aberdeen in late 1987.
Privately owned Midfly expands its regional services in the spring of 1988 with a pair of Fairchild Metro IIIs. Flights begin to Rotterdam and an order is placed for a SAAB 340A. Traffic and financial figures are not released.
Operations continue apace in 1989; however, the carrier encounters financial difficulties and in September is forced to sell out to rival Copenhagen operator Business Flight, A. S.
World History
