Beirut flight ticket prices surge as foreign embassies urge citizens to leave

Embassies have been rushing to warn their nationals to leave Lebanon over fears of a possible wider war with Israel, as Iran weighs up its response to a bout of Israeli attacks last week.

Despite diplomatic attempts to de-escalate tensions between the warring parties, a growing number of governments have ordered their citizens to leave Beirut as soon as possible.

The US, UK, Australia, France, Canada, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Turkey and Jordan have called on their nationals to depart Lebanon over fears of a wider conflagration.

But many major airlines have simultaneously been cancelling or postponing flights to Beirut as a result of the instability and threats of an Iranian attack.

Iran has vowed to retaliate to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week which followed an Israeli strike on south Beirut that killed top Hezbollah commander and Iranian ally Fuad Shukr.

It has been speculated that Iran will launch an attack on Israel either directly or through its proxies, possibly Hezbollah in Lebanon. Governments are worried that it would trigger a serious Israeli response.

Air France said on Wednesday it would extend its suspension of flights to Beirut while Italian airline ITA Airways extended flight suspension to and from Tel Aviv until 10 August.

Late on Tuesday, the UK aviation authority reportedly issued a NOTAM (notice to aviation) telling pilots not to fly over Lebanese airspace from 7 August to 4 November due to possible risks from military activity in the region.

Foreign government evacuation plans

In October, following Hamas’ attack on southern Israel and the Gaza war, the US government facilitated evacuations for US citizens to leave Israel by air or sea.

The US embassy in Israel website said that “departure assistance” to US citizens began on 13 October. It said chartered transportation would not be back to the US but to “nearby safe locations”.

Observers have questioned whether the US will be as effective in the case of a wider conflagration in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the US and UK continue to categorise Israel, the West Bank and Gaza in a category lower than Lebanon which it advises against all travel to.

Embassies are not the only bodies re-assessing the safety of Lebanon in recent days.

The families of UN staff in Lebanon have been instructed to depart. The UN has large regional offices in Beirut for dozens of its agencies, including UNIFIL, ESCWA, UNRWA and WFP.

The United Nations spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Wednesday that the UN is not moving staff out of Lebanon, but family members have been told to leave.

"We have not been moving our national and international staff. There's been no decision to suspend UN operations in Lebanon. As part of our regular administrative procedures, the presence in the country of family members of personnel will be temporarily reduced and that is happening now,” Farhan said during a press briefing.

Flight ticket price surge

Since the flurry of cancellations and foreign government warnings, there have been calls for embassies to better coordinate with airlines to stem the surge in ticket prices amid the demand.

Lebanese journalist Kim Ghattas wrote on X that foreign countries should "coordinate" with airline companies who were cancelling flights and raising prices.

"Some people want to leave but can’t find tickets. Some people want to return to be with family here but are stranded abroad," Ghattas, who is a writer for the Atlantic and the Financial Times, said this week.

The US embassy reportedly emailed registered citizens inviting them to take out a “resettlement loan” to cover the cost of a plane ticket or citizens are expected to “reimburse the US government” for transportation to a safe location. This was also issued during the Israel evacuations.

A search for a flight ticket from Beirut to London Heathrow with Middle East Airlines shows flights till 12 August as sold out, barring one economy class ticket for £412.50. Passengers could expect to pay around half that prior to the instability.

The only availability for a ticket next week is in business class for  £782.30 for the five-hour flight.

For around 21,000 Canadian nationals in Lebanon, a single departure ticket has surged to around 4,087 Canadian dollars around what used to cost around 1,200 Canadian dollars.

During the 2006 war, Canada’s evacuation operation cost nearly $100 million Canadian dollars, The National Post reported.

The Canadian army is said to be orchestrating plans in case an evacuation is needed, according to reports.