THE CEDARJET PAGES
By Wassim Chemaitelli
MEA TIMETABLE, WINTER 1959.
This document is based on MEA's timetable issue N°
16, winter 1959. Since 1955, with the delivery of the Vickers Viscounts,
MEA had been able to expand its network to Europe, to consolidate its network
in the Gulf region and beyond, to the Indian sub-continent. Beside its
fleet of 7 Viscounts, the airline flew 3 Douglas DC-3 Dakotas, which will
be phased out gradually between 1964 and 1963. However, the Dakotas were
not mentionned on this timetable, as MEA announced proudly its Viscount
fleet.
It is on the wings of its fleet of Viscounts that
MEA became an international air-carrier. Photo: MEA
It is worth mentionning that the same MEA timetable format displayed here will be used by MEA until 1997 !
The following are enlarged sections of the timetable
MEA flew westbound to Nicosia (3 flights weekly), Cairo (5), Ankara (2), Istanbul (3), Athens (6), Vienna (3), Rome (3), Frankfurt (3) and London (6).
MEA flew eastbound to Aleppo (1 weekly flight), Damascus (2), Jerusalem-Kolundia/Palestine (4), Baghdad (3), Teheran (2), Kuwait (5), Bahrain (3), Dhahran (3), Jeddah (2), Doha (2), Aden (1), Karachi (2) and Bombay (2).
MEA's expansion towards Europe and the consolidation of its Gulf
operations somewhat reduced the emphasis on its short-haul flights. The
latter were also the object of stiff competition by newer national air-carriers
of neighbouring countries, as well as Air Liban and LIA. The introduction
of the Comet a year later will enable the airline to shift the Viscounts
towards shorter routes, and to intensify frequencies to Jerusalem-Kolundia
/ Palestine (reaching 3 daily rotations), and to Damascus (a daily flight
in pool partnership with Syrian Airways).
The 1959 timetable was kindly scanned and sent by David
Zekria@Airline
Timetable Page