Middle East Airlines

Middle East Airlines (Arabic: طيران الشرق الأوسط) is an airline based in Lebanon. It flies between the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

History

An MEA Airbus A330-200

Middle East Airlines opened for business on May 31, 1945. It was opened by Saeb Salam, with support from BOAC. MEA's work started on January 1, 1946 with flights between Beirut and Nicosia. Then its airplanes started to fly to Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Cyprus. The company bought two Douglas DC-3 planes in mid-1946.

On September 7, 2006, Israel ended its 8-week long air blockade on Lebanon. A Middle East Airlines plane from Paris flew to the Rafik Hariri International Airport at 6:06 p.m. Lebanese time (3:03 p.m. GMT). MEA resumed its normal flight timetable on September 11, 2006.

Destinations

An MEA Airbus A330-200 at Roissy Airport in France

Middle East Airlines flies its planes to these countries and their cities (since June 2006):

Africa

• Côte d'Ivoire
  • Abidjan
• Egypt
  • Cairo
  • Sharm el Sheikh (sometimes)
• Ghana
  • Accra
• Nigeria
  • Kano
  • Lagos
• Niger

Asia

• Jordan
  • Amman
• Kuwait
  • Kuwait City
• Qatar
  • Doha
• Saudi Arabia
  • Dammam
  • Jeddah
  • Riyadh
• United Arab Emirates
  • Abu Dhabi
  • Dubai

Europe

• Cyprus
  • Larnaca
• Denmark
  • Copenhagen (sometimes)
• France
  • Nice (sometimes)
  • Paris
• Germany
  • Düsseldorf (sometimes)
  • Frankfurt am Main
• Greece
  • Athens
• Italy
  • Milan
  • Rome
• Switzerland
  • Geneva
• Turkey
  • Istanbul
• United Kingdom
  • London