Beirut, Lebanon – The federal government has moved ahead with plans to reopen Rene Mouawad Worldwide Airport in Qlayaat in northern Lebanon, and officers say it could start operations this summer season.
The airport has been a extremely politicised subject for years as financial and social issues at occasions have taken a backseat to sectarian arguments for and towards it.
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However officers and consultants advised Al Jazeera that political opposition has largely dimmed in latest months. The mission is being closely backed by the federal government with Lebanon’s transportation minister set to participate in an indication flight within the coming weeks.
Officers and consultants additionally stated the airport, situated 6km (3.7 miles) from the Syrian border, may serve giant components of Syria and Lebanon and supply an financial reprieve to a area with a few of Lebanon’s most economically deprived folks.
[image by Al Jazeera]
A web site the place historical past was made
Constructed within the Nineteen Thirties, Qlayaat airport was later changed into a navy airfield by the French military. Within the Nineteen Sixties, it was used for civilian functions, primarily transporting engineers and different staff between Lebanon and different Arab international locations.
From 1988 to 1990 throughout probably the most brutal intervals of the Lebanese Civil Warfare, lots of the roads from Beirut to different components of the nation had been closed by militias. To get round this, Center East Airways, Lebanon’s nationwide provider, started working flights between Beirut and Qlayaat.
“It used to value 25,000 Lebanese lira,” or about $50 on the time, Mazen Sammak, president of the Personal Pilot Affiliation of Lebanon, advised Al Jazeera from his places of work in downtown Beirut. “I keep in mind very effectively as a result of I took that flight many occasions.”
On November 5, 1989, Lebanon’s Parliament met on the Qlayaat airport to carry a historic session. Lawmakers ratified the Taif Settlement, which led to the tip of the Lebanese Civil Warfare. It additionally re-elected Hussein al-Husseini as speaker of parliament and Rene Mouawad as president of the republic.
Mouawad, nevertheless, was killed 17 days later by a automobile bomb in Beirut planted by unknown assailants. The airport was then renamed in his reminiscence because the Rene Mouawad Worldwide Airport.
Since then, the airport has been used principally by the Lebanese Air Drive.
No extra political opposition
Discussions about reopening the airport for passenger planes have emerged once in a while, notably during times of battle.
Throughout Israel’s battle on Lebanon in 2024, departing and incoming flights to Beirut-Rafic Hariri Worldwide Airport at occasions flew previous the smoke rising from Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs. This led some in Lebanon to demand a second airport away from areas related to the political and navy group Hezbollah.
Some supporters of opening a second airport accused Hezbollah of controlling Beirut’s worldwide airport and importing arms and cash there. Airport staff affiliated with Hezbollah had been reportedly faraway from that airport in April.
Protesters have additionally at occasions blocked the airport street, together with Hezbollah supporters who’ve protested against the group’s disarmament.
Some discussions across the airport have additionally turned sectarian. Through the civil battle, a civilian airport started working out of Halat close to the town of Byblos. The Los Angeles Instances ran a narrative in March 1987 with the headline “Christians Need Personal Airport: In Warring Lebanon, No Comfortable Landings.”
“What I discover fairly revealing on this debate is that it’s symptomatic that debates of public coverage in Lebanon by no means take into accounts technical execs and cons of the problem at stake however very quickly take a sectarian flip,” Karim Emile Bitar, a Lebanese political analyst, advised Al Jazeera. “This airport has been mentioned for the previous 30 years. There are lots of strong arguments in favour of getting a second airport in Lebanon.”
“The issue is a few rabid sectarian Lebanese insist on turning this subject right into a sectarian debate and saying this could be the Christian airport versus an airport in west Beirut, the place Hezbollah has lengthy been the dominant power,” Bitar stated.
He recalled the civil battle days when rival militias aimed to carve Lebanon into sectarian cantons. “That is why some folks nonetheless view the opening of one other airport as a possible step within the fragmentation of Lebanon.”
Hezbollah was among the many political factions against the opening of a second airport in Qlayaat or elsewhere within the north. They argued it was a way of dividing Lebanon. However that political opposition appears to have light in latest months.
“The airport has financial and developmental advantages, however there isn’t a political opposition,” Qassem Kassir, a journalist near Hezbollah, advised Al Jazeera. “It’s mandatory and useful.”
Different critics have questioned whether or not the administration of the airport is financially sustainable and whether or not it might divert visitors away from Beirut.
Consultants and officers appeared optimistic {that a} viable and sustainable answer was obtainable, seemingly by a public-private partnership to handle the airport someday within the close to future.
Consultants additionally advised Al Jazeera {that a} second airport would, if something, enhance the significance of Beirut.
“It would make extra visitors for Beirut,” Captain Mohammad Aziz, head of Lebanon’s Regulatory Authority for Civil Aviation, advised Al Jazeera. “Extra airports imply extra job attraction.”
“If we need to suppose on the nationwide stage, on the curiosity of the nation, having one other airport creates resilience,” Sammak stated. “As a result of in any secure nation, you need to have one other airport.”
Flying quickly
With the political arguments now largely settled, officers accustomed to the trouble to reopen Qlayaat’s airport stated passengers could possibly be flying out and in as quickly as this summer season.
“Nothing is holding it again. We simply want to ensure it’s prepared for civilian operations,” Aziz stated. “We want a few months to regulate the runway and to construct a constructing to obtain civilians.”
He stated the federal government’s aim is to get the airport operational as quickly as doable after which to start out receiving tenders on a public-private partnership.
Aziz estimated {that a} demonstration flight may land at Rene Mouawad Worldwide Airport as early as April. If all goes to plan, the airport may begin receiving jet plane like Embraer 190s or Airbus A220s, which seat 108 to 133 passengers and have a flight time of about 5 hours.
With this flight time, Aziz stated, flights may go so far as Madrid. “In 5 hours, you may fly from Beirut to London,” he stated. “Flights from Beirut are primarily quick flights. The MEA [Middle East Airlines] common flight is round 2 hours and half-hour.”
Reviews in Lebanese media indicated that Rene Mouawad Worldwide would possibly grow to be Lebanon’s hub for regional and worldwide low-cost airways. At present, a number of low-cost airways comparable to Turkiye’s Pegasus and Transavia, primarily based within the Netherlands, fly to Beirut.
The second airport’s location in Qlayaat, an space in Akkar, one in all Lebanon’s poorest and most underserved areas, may additionally convey an financial boon to the area, officers and consultants stated.
“Airports are what we name financial multipliers,” Sammak stated. “One job in aviation can create a number of jobs in different domains like logistics, tourism and hospitality. For such a disadvantaged space for a few years like Akkar within the north of Lebanon, it is a essential step as a result of it should create job alternatives for everybody, and it’ll power the event of the world to make this airport prepared.”
He added that the potential infrastructure improvement and job prospects would create “social equilibrium” and scale back migration from Lebanon’s underserved north to Beirut.
“This steadiness is essential as a result of it retains households collectively,” he stated. “It has many optimistic social impacts as effectively.”
The airport additionally has the potential to serve Syria’s coast. In reality, economists stated it might seemingly should serve Syria and Lebanon to be economically viable. Requested if contact had begun with Syrian authorities, Aziz stated talks with Syria have been initiated and “are heading in the right direction”.
With the federal government’s backing and political opposition now not a hurdle, officers are assured concerning the airport’s viability and the potential for improvement in northern Lebanon.
“When political will and decision-making align, goals grow to be actuality,” Aziz stated. “We’re going to be certain that goals grow to be actuality.”
