The ongoing war on Gaza has gravely affected the operations of Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines (MEA), especially after insurance companies reduced their coverage by 80 percent, a senior executive of the company has revealed to Al Arabiya English.

“We had to reduce some of the flights to the destinations and send nearly 50 percent of our fleet abroad after the insurance companies decided to cut the coverage of our planes by 80 percent due to the war in Gaza which started in October 2023,” Marwan Haber, the head of the commercial operations at MEA, told Al Arabiya English.

In October, Israel declared a war on Gaza after the Palestinian militant group Hamas crossed the border into Israel and launched an attack that left around 1,200 people dead and took over 200 others hostage. Since then, the Lebanese Hezbollah group has been engaged in cross-border clashes with Israel which have caused unrest across the region in fears of the war spilling over.

Soon after, the airline moved five of its airplanes to Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Cyprus as a precaution. As of now, Haber said 10 to 11 aircraft have been relocated.

Currently, MEA has a fleet of 22 Airbus planes flying to 32 destinations. The airline cut the number of flights to certain destinations from five flights to two flights but has not canceled any destinations.

In principle, MEA is now operating at around 50 percent of its capacity until the war in Gaza is over, and insurance firms fully cover all the planes.

MEA picking up steam before Gaza war

Haber stressed that prior to the Gaza war, MEA had started picking up steam and recorded impressive growth from January 2023 till September 2023.

“We have even exceeded the growth projection of IATA as the number of arrivals and departures jumped considerably,” he explained.

He added that 2020, 2021 and 2022 were critical years for MEA due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the preventive measures adopted by most airlines and airports worldwide.

“Around 332,000 passengers flew with MEA in the first nine months of last year and we were expecting even more numbers before the war broke out in Gaza,” Haber said.

However, soon after the war broke out, insurance companies cut their coverage of the MEA planes by 80 percent, prompting the airline to operate only 10 to 11 planes.

The airline official declined to talk about the company’s financial losses, arguing that the firm’s financial situation is not his domain.

Haber emphasized that MEA did not resort to laying off any staff member in a bid to contain the crisis. The airline and its affiliated companies have more than 4,200 staff.

MEA founded in 1945

Founded in 1945, MEA launched its first service from Beirut to the neighboring Syria, Cyprus, Egypt then Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other destinations in the Gulf.

MEA, which is almost entirely owned by Lebanon’s Central Bank, made steady profits from 2003 till 2018.

MEA continued to expand its fleet and add more destinations to cater to the growing numbers of passengers.

In June 2019, Middle East Airlines (MEA) signed a firm order to purchase four A321XLRs (to be delivered between 2024 and 2025), making it the launch customer of the latest version of the highly successful A321 neo family.

The agreement brings orders for the single-aisle aircraft cumulated by Middle East Airlines with Airbus to 15 A321neo Family aircraft, including 11 A321neos and 4 A321XLRs delivery as of 2020. MEA will use the A321XLR to strengthen its network in Africa and Asia.

In addition, the company purchased four A330-990 Neo expected to be delivered between 2026-2028.