Which airlines have suspended flights to Lebanon?

Which airlines have suspended flights to Lebanon?
Over 30 airlines have cancelled flights to and from Beirut amid Israel's intensified cross-border attacks, which killed over 500 people in Lebanon.
2 min read
24 September, 2024
Middle East Airlines, meanwhile, has increased services to Lebanon amid the wave of cancellations [Getty]

Lebanon's only international airport has faced a fresh series of flight cancellations on Tuesday as Israel's brutal onslaught on the country entered its second day.

Over 30 airlines cancelled flights to Lebanon, where more than 560 people have so far been killed since Israel's expanded its cross-border attacks on the country, targeting it with wider indiscriminate attacks which had seen an influx of displacement.

Videos shared online earlier on Tuesday showed Israeli jets over Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, where some passengers had waited in an attempt to get on any possible flight out of the country.

Which airlines cancelled flights to and from Beirut?
Cyprus Airways has cancelled all flights until further notice
Flydubai suspended flights on 24 and 25 September
Air Arabia cancelled all flights on 24 September
Iraqi Airways also announced the cancellation of all its flights
Qatar Airways suspended all flights on 24 and 25 September
Etihad Airways cancelled its flights on 24 September


Cyprus Airways, Flydubai, Air Arabia, Iraqi Airways, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways were the latest airliners to join others which had already suspended flights to Beirut. 

Lufthansa airline had previously announced it had stopped all flights to Beirut until 26 October, while Air France cancelled all flights until 1 October, according to Lebanese media.

Romanian airline TAROM suspended its flights until 4 October, while German airline Sundair had suspended its flights from Berlin to Beirut until 30 September.

On Monday, Pegasus Airlines canceled four scheduled flights for Tuesday, while Qatar Airways cancelled its two daily flights on 24 and 25 September.

EgyptAir said in a statement it had cancelled flights from Cairo to Beirut "until the situation in the country stabilises", while Turkish Airlines also cancelled flights scheduled for 24 and 25 September, and Jordan suspended flights to Beirut "until further notice".

Lebanon's national airline, Middle East Airlines (MEA), continued to operate normally and was "arranging additional flights to fill the gap after other airlines stopped flying to Lebanon", according to a statement by Jean Abboud, the president of the Union of Owners of Travel and Tourism Agencies, cited by the national news agency NNA.

Abboud also said there was a "30 to 40 percent drop" in flights from Beirut's airport, adding that the traffic at the airport had seen a "significant drop  in recent days, after around 14 airlines had suspended flights to and from Lebanon due to the security and military developments in the country".

Many foreign airlines also suspended flights to Israel's Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

British Airways has cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv, while flight data from the Flight Radar tracking website has shown that Wizz Air and Azerbaijan Airlines had also cancelled flights, according to the BBC.