Thursday, August 17, 2006

Beirut airport reopens

A commercial passenger flight landed at Beirut airport today for the first time since the airport was closed late last month after being damaged by Israeli airstrikes.

A Reuters news article posted on Airwise.com said:
An airliner belonging to Middle East Airlines, Lebanon's flag carrier, landed at 1:10 p.m. (1010 GMT) from Jordan's capital Amman. A Royal Jordanian flight was due to follow.

Scheduled flights were expected to resume next week.

British Airways franchise partner BMED was sending a plane carrying humanitarian aid to Beirut in the afternoon. The airline said it hoped to resume services early next week, initially offering four flights a week to London.
A related Associated Press article on Breitbart.com reported that:
MEA Chairman Mohammed Hout said the blockade had been partially lifted to allow flights between Amman and Beirut. Airport officials said full commercial traffic could resume next week.
No telling how long it will be until commercial air traffic into and out of Beirut is fully normalized, however this is a hopeful beginning.

Sources:
First Flight Lands As Beirut Airport Reopens - Airwise.com
Lebanese Troops Deploy; Airport Reopens - Breitbart.com

Technorati Tags: , , , ,