BEIRUT – The flight operations have faced significant disruptions as Middle East Airlines (MEA) cites insurance concerns due to escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
Numerous flights have been either canceled or delayed.
On Monday, Lufthansa announced it had halted five routes connecting Beirut with its affiliated airlines—Swiss International Air Lines, Eurowings, and Lufthansa itself—through July 30 as a precautionary measure.
Flight tracking services and the departure boards at Beirut airport indicate that Turkish Airlines canceled two flights overnight on Sunday. Additional flight cancellations have been reported by other carriers, including Turkey’s SunExpress and AJet, Greece’s Aegean Airlines, Ethiopia’s Ethiopian Airlines, and MEA.
The airlines have yet to provide comments on these cancellations.
Meanwhile, thousands attended a funeral procession in Beirut on Sunday for the 12 victims of the rocket attack.
Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport is Lebanon’s only airport.
It has been targeted in the country’s civil war, and previous fighting with Israel, including in the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
On Sunday, MEA said it had delayed the departure of some flights set to land in Beirut overnight. Additional delays to flights landing on Monday were then announced due to “technical reasons related to the distribution of insurance risks for aircraft between Lebanon and other destinations”, MEA said.
Hezbollah and the Israeli military have increased cross-border exchanges of fire since the Gaza war began. The conflict has disrupted flights and shipping across the region, including during reciprocal drone and missile attacks between Israel and Iran in April.
Lufthansa has already suspended night-time flights to and from Beirut for July due to “current developments” in the Middle East.
The recent rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which resulted in the deaths of 12 children and teenagers, has intensified fears of a potential full-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. In response to the attack, Israel’s security cabinet has given the government the green light to take action.
Hezbollah has denied involvement in the assault, which marks the deadliest incident in Israeli or Israeli-annexed territory since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on October 7.
