Beriut
 

Qatar Airways is the first airline to operate to Beriut ON THE 03/09/2006 after the cease fire.Operated by A320 aircraft.Any idea who was the Capt and F/O.believe the are operating daily flights.What is the Condition of the Airport?:)

Been there yesterday night. Ldg. on 03 T/O 35 - looked to me like it always did I haven't seen much damage.
WIP on Rwy 34 - and again probably the most friendly handling people ever and a quick turn around.:D :ok:

Damage was on the rwys and the fuel village. Buildings left quite intact. Yes, great to see the airport back in business for good:D .

"Beruit"
 

I am not really sure. EK is set to re-start as well.
They have two good runways; certainly repaired by now.
The only problem is whether the Jewish folks will resume the bombings.

On another matter ... the name of the place is actually BEIRUT and you live in the Empty QuaRter:-)) :O

From a very reliable source in BEY and this after the official Israeli air blockade was lifted, MEA was the first airline to touchdown, and it made all sense being the country flag carrier, followed by a Kuwaiti (KU). This is confirmed by this quote from Reuters, The Associated Press, The New York Times among so many others on September 7, 2006.
:ok:

And I believe BMed were one of the first few in, well before Qatar.....:ok:

BEY
 

The blockade was lifted on the 7th of Sep,thats when MEA from Paris landed followed by Kuwait Airways.Whereas Qatar Airway resumed services on the 3rd of Sep.This was reported in all the Gulf newspapers,BBC,CNN to name a few.Just wondering who the cockpit crew were.

Was there yesterday & it's coming together fast - 16 is still closed & looks like it needs quite a bit more work; 17 & 21 are operating fine. A lot of taxiways still have holes in them but are all being worked on but the follow-me will get you to your gate.

As always, the Lebanese ground staff are extremely pleasant and have clearly risen above this intrusion.

4HP

Just for information, I can confirm that BMED were back in Beirut with fare- paying passengers on 6th September (following a humanitarian aid flight on 17th August) and that we landed approx 36 hours before the Israeli air embargo was lifted. We had clearance from the Lebanese authorities (I believe we were mentioned in their parliament that day) and the UK Foreign Office, but not from Israel. There were TV cameras and a small welcoming party as we arrived on stand, but it was much lower profile than the events of 17th August and I never saw any of the coverage.

Beirut is an important route for BMED and I think we can proudly boast to being the first European carrier back in, and one of the first few commercial operators to resume scheduled services.

From my logbook:

6/9/06 EGLL 1345 OLBA 1819 G-MEDE LAJ4C(BA6517) PF ILS03
6/9/06 OLBA 1903 HAAB 2338 G-MEDE LAJ4C(BA6517) PNF ILS25L

Here's to happy landings, world peace, and fun trips to Beirut.

George.

I'm very happy for you George:eek: What do you want? a hero biscuit?:confused: I suppose the needles were crossed perfectly all the way down, followed by the perfect greaser,so perfect the only way the pax knew they were on the ground is when you switched on the " have landed sign"?We're all happy Beirut is back in business,but come on....