Summary
- Middle East Airlines has relocated most of its fleet from Beirut as a consequence of the conflict within the region.
- The move was triggered by changes to the airline’s insurance coverage policy and the beginning of the conflict on earlier this month.
- The carrier has canceled multiple flights and revised its schedule.
Middle East Airlines (MEA), the flag carrier of Lebanon, has reportedly moved most of its fleet from Beirut to neighboring countries as a consequence of the conflict within the region. The move has resulted in a discount of several flights inside the airline’s network.
Only a fraction of the carrier’s fleet is operational as a consequence of the temporary reshuffling, with the remainder being relocated to a minimum of three other countries. Multiple flights have been canceled through Tuesday because the airline revises its schedule.
“A discount within the variety of flights”
Based on Airways Magazine, MEA executed its decision to maneuver its aircraft after changes were made to its insurance coverage policy and the beginning of the conflict within the region on October seventh. The airline’s Chairman, Mohamed Al-Hout, confirmed that its insurance coverage for war risks was reduced by roughly 80% and that only eight aircraft could be operational through the move.
It comes just days after MEA relocated some aircraft to Istanbul as a precaution. 10 aircraft shall be moved to Cyrpus, Oman, Qatar, and other nearby countries, in accordance with Airways Magazine.
MEA alerted passengers of the flight schedule changes that were implemented on Sunday.
“Resulting from the continued circumstances within the region and the reduced insurance coverage for aviation risks in times of war and since MEA has at all times aimed to function an important connection between Lebanon and the world, MEA has implemented a discount within the variety of flights and has rescheduled them, effective from Sunday, October 22, 2023.”
A slew of cancelations
The airline maintained its usual flight schedule on Saturday apart from eight canceled flights. Flights between Beirut and Paris, Larnaca, Istanbul, Cairo, Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dubai were revised with latest departure and arrival times on Sunday, but 20 more flights were canceled on the identical day.
MEA revised 10 flights scheduled for Monday between Beirut and Athens, Larnaca, Istanbul, Cairo, and Riyadh but expects to operate 30 flights with their original scheduled departure and arrival times with none changes. Nearly 20 flights have been canceled for Monday between Beirut and Istanbul, Amman, Baghdad, Jeddah, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Doha.
Photo: Airbus
Much like Monday, MEA is revising 10 flights on Tuesday. The majority of its flights shall be unchanged, in accordance with the airline, but there are a lot of flights which were axed already. At the very least 15 flights between Beirut and London, Athens, Istanbul, Amman, Erbil, Riyadh, and Dubai have been canceled for Tuesday.
On Saturday, the carrier issued a versatile ticketing policy allowing passengers to rebook their flights in the identical cabin freed from charge until November thirtieth. The airline also indicated that affected passengers are entitled to full refunds, but exemptions is not going to apply to those that don’t show up for his or her flights.
Insurance coverage concerns
Last week, aviation war insurers notified some airlines based in Israel and Lebanon that coverage might be canceled as a consequence of the conflict within the region, in accordance with Reuters. Within the event of a significant conflict that poses a risk to long-term coverage, insurers based in Europe and the US can reportedly issue their notice of changes to terms or canceled coverage in seven days.
MEA operates a small fleet comprised of nine Airbus A320s, nine A320neos, and 4 A330-200s.