Cancellations by the dozen, exorbitant prices… Finding a plane ticket from Beirut has become a real obstacle course, with most airlines having canceled their flights due to Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
The national company, MEA, now provides the majority of air connections, with a few rare companies such as Iraki Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and the Turkish low-cost company Pegasus.
And this while several countries have called on their nationals to leave Lebanon due to the rapid deterioration of the security situation.
“My flight scheduled for next Monday to Istanbul was canceled, I’m trying to find another one,” Gilbert Medaouar, 32, told AFP, hoping to then be able to catch a plane to Portugal where he must participate in a congress.
“I can’t find it,” laments this agricultural engineer. This seasoned traveler – almost three times a month, he said – had booked with Turkish Airlines, known for only canceling in cases of force majeure.
But the only available flight is only six days away, the last day of his conference.
The notice board on the Beirut airport website announces the cancellation of dozens of flights arriving or departing from the Lebanese capital.
– 1.300 dollars –
“This week, the only flights departing from Beirut are full or at exorbitant prices,” observes Mr. Medaouar.
He is also worried, if he leaves, that he will not be able to return to Lebanon, where his family is. Since the start of the week, Israel has been shelling the south and east of the country but also the southern suburbs of Beirut, stronghold of Lebanese Hezbollah.
These strikes of unprecedented intensity target the strongholds of Hezbollah, which reactivated the front on the border with Israel after October 7 and the start of the war in Gaza, in “support” of its Palestinian ally Hamas.
The airport, located near the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, continues to operate, but is running almost empty due to fears of open war.
Haytham Chamass, director, has had a series of difficulties since his direct flight to Bucharest was canceled by the Romanian company, Tarom.
He had just won a contract in Romania.
“If I stay stuck in Lebanon, I will lose it,” says this Lebanese who provides for his family alone.
After two days of waiting, a travel agency offered him a flight to Istanbul operated by the Lebanese company MEA, with a connection to Bucharest, giving him half an hour to decide.
“It stressed me out but I bought it so as not to miss my chance,” he says annoyed.
The flight offered to Mr. Chamass, a round trip, in business class, cost him around $1,300, a considerable sum in a country ravaged by crisis.
– ‘A yacht is waiting for you!’ –
“We operate between three and five additional flights every day to many destinations”, including Paris, Istanbul and Dubai, assures AFP Antoine Tabbal, commercial director of MEA.
“The demand far exceeds the number of available seats,” he explains, assuring that this creates a real “crisis”.
“Demand has exploded while supply has shrunk,” explains the president of the travel and tourism agencies union, Jean Aboud.
“Hundreds of travel agencies monitor the opening of new flights, and as soon as they spot one they reserve all the seats within ten minutes,” he told AFP.
Faced with this situation, travelers turn to the road or the sea.
Some opt for a bus trip from Beirut to Amman via Syria, lasting around 12 hours, offered by a travel agency for a price varying between $65 and $125. The wealthiest prefer to take the sea to Cyprus, some 200 km from the Lebanese coast.
A five-hour yacht trip from the port of Dbayeh, north of Beirut, to Ayia Napa, Cyprus costs an average of $1,200.
A price justified for Pierre Abi Saad, director of Lebanon Boating Company, due to “the higher costs of operating yachts”, linked to the limited number of passengers and the price of fuel.
“Twelve yachts, each carrying between 9 and 14 passengers” sailed this week, he said.
An alternative promoted on social networks.
On TikTok, a user, standing in front of a yacht, says “No plane? A yacht is waiting for you!”.
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