‘What a nation, what a people, what an airline’: Braving war, Lebanon’s national airline defies odds

As Israel ramped up air strikes against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah two weeks ago, most airlines stopped flying to the country.

National carrier Middle East Airlines (MEA) remains the only carrier still serving Beirut despite the mounting risks and past hits on the runways.

Agha and her daughters, aged 11 and 13, were on their way to the airport when an Israeli air strike pounded the capital’s adjacent southern suburbs on September 27, killing Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah.

The ordeal left her deeply shaken.

It “was an extremely horrifying experience”, said Agha, adding she had expected to find the departure lounge in chaos.

But instead airport employees comforted her when she broke down in tears.

“Most of the staff have family in those areas. You could hear them receiving calls. You could see their eyes full of tears,” she said.

‘What a nation’

As her plane took off for Cyprus, Agha snapped a picture of the Lebanese cedar on the airplane’s winglet and declared her admiration on social media.

“That same airplane will bring that same crew back into a war zone in a few hours,” she said. “What a nation, what a people, what an airline.”

Agha is just one of many Lebanese singing the praises of the company.

“MEA is the most badass airline on the planet,” one social media user wrote recently.

The escalation over the past fortnight has killed more than 1,100 people, wounded over 3,800 and displaced more than one million, according to official figures.

Despite the risks, MEA aircraft continue to land and take off, as seen in AFP’s live video feed of the southern suburbs.

A picture shared online shows an Israeli strike from a plane window.

On flight into Beirut on Tuesday, a handful of anxious travellers repeatedly sought reassurances from the cabin crew that they would make it safely, an AFP journalist said.

As the dangers increase, the Lebanese government last week said it would cover the cost of the insurance so that flights in and out could continue.

The United States warned Israel on Monday not to attack Beirut airport or the roads leading to it.

Transport Minister Transport Ali Hamieh on Tuesday said Beirut had received “assurances” that Israel would not target the country’s only international airport, though those were not full guarantees.

‘Commitment’

Since the start of cross-border fire between Lebanon and Hezbollah last year, after war erupted in Gaza, MEA has taken measures such as parking some of its planes in Cyprus or Turkey.

Israel targeted Beirut airport and its planes in previous conflicts.

During the 33-day war between both sides in 2006, Israeli strikes hit the runways and fuel tanks, knocking it out of service.

In 1968, the country lost half of its civilian fleet after an Israeli special forces operation blew up 14 airplanes in less than half an hour, without any casualties.

It came in retaliation for an attack by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on an Israeli plane two days earlier in which the militants took hostages.

According to Israeli media reports, Israel’s current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was among those who carried out the raid.

During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Israeli forces tried to seize the airport, clashing fiercely with Palestinian groups in its surroundings.

Retired MEA captain Elie Al Rasi, 68, still remembers working from the 1980s during the 1975-90 civil war.

“The airport was repeatedly targeted,” and the company would fly planes out of the country to safety so they were not hit, he said.

In a divided Beirut, sometimes he had to cross checkpoints on foot to get to work, he added.

Rasi said the airport had continued to serve customers in much worse circumstances than those today.

“No crew can say ‘We don’t want to fly’ because MEA is the national carrier and it has to serve Lebanese, just like a doctor must treat the wounded during war,” he said.

“It’s a commitment.”