By Wassim Chemaitelli

THE GOLDEN AGE: 1959-1974

MEA was the first airline in the Arab world to enter the jet age when it chartered a de Havilland Comet 4C for the London and Dhahran routes in November 1960. The airline took delivery of its first Comet in December 1960, and with it opened the Beirut-Rome-Madrid-Lisbon route, connecting to BOAC's services to Brazil. Four Comets were to join MEA's fleet. The airline's relations with BOAC were paradoxically entering a difficult phase in this period. A special division organizing BOAC's participation in other airlines (BOAC-AC) had been formed in 1959. BOAC-AC was highly critical of MEA's 1958 losses, and also considered MASCO as a costly and hazardous enterprise that competed with the maintenance services proposed in the UK to client airlines in the Middle East. MEA bought MASCO from BOAC, and on August 16th 1961, BOAC sold its shares in MEA to Intra Bank, Lebanon's most powerful financial group of the time, headed by the famous tycoon, Yousif Bedas. Thus MEA broke free of BOAC-AC's restrictions and continued its expansion. Profits soared in 1962 as MEA carried its millionth passenger.

On February 1st 1963, MEA suffered its first fatal accident in 17 years of existence when one of its Vickers Viscounts collided with a Turkish Air Force C-47 while approaching Ankara's airport. The Viscount crashed into a residential area near the airport. The 11 passengers and 3 crew members on board, the 3 airmen in the C-47, and 88 Turkish civilians were killed in this tragic accident. At the moment when an international investigation was establishing the C-47's responsibility in the accident, hundreds of MEA employees rallied at the American University of Beirut's Hospital to donate blood to the injured, while the airline's insurance coverage through Lloyd's enabled a quick and efficient compensation of all victims' families, restoring MEA's image in Turkey.  The trauma caused by this first fatal accident did not deter MEA from pursuing its objective in becoming the  leading airline in the region, living up to its name. Air Liban's position was in sharp contrast to that of MEA. As Air Liban enjoyed Air France's unlimited support, it was less profit-conscious. Its Lebanese shareholders enjoyed unrealistic privileges, unscathed by the airline's recurrent losses. Air France was eager to find a solution to this situation, and started negociations with MEA. These talks resulted in the merger of MEA and Air Liban on June 7th 1963, to form Middle East Airlines - Air Liban (MEA). Air France was to keep a 30% stake in the airline, most of the remainder being held by Intra Bank. Thus, MEA became an Air France associate. Two Sud-Aviation Caravelle VINs were introduced in the fleet, and were operated on meduim range flights (Cairo, Baghdad, Teheran and the Gulf). MEA combined the networks of its parent airlines, inheriting Air Liban's routes to Khartoum, Abidjan and Accra in Africa as well as the lucrative Beirut-Paris route.

MEA ended the phasing out of its DC-3s in 1964, as Viscounts were removed from medium haul operations and could be exclusively affected to short-haul flights. Unscathed by an aborted joint venture with the Jordanian government for the creation of Jordan Airways in 1961, MEA continued the intensification of its regional operations by flying twice daily to Damascus (under a pool partnership agreement with Syrian Arab Airlines) in 1965, 3 times daily to Jerusalem and by inaugurating flights to Addis Abeba in 1964 and to Dubai in May 1966. MEA was a founding member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) in 1964. For its long-haul operations, MEA initially chose Douglas DC-8s as a replacement for Comets. MEA also ordered 2 supersonic Concordes to be delivered by 1971.

16-MEA's Engineering Facilty (left). Click on the image for a complete scanned version sent by P. Goodearl @ the Air Days Website . MEA luggage tags (middle, from P. Goodearl's collection) and LIA's advertisement announcing the Baghdad route in 1961 (right). Click on the advertisement for more on LIA.

16bis- Artist's impression of the MEA Concorde, above (Aérospatiale Postcard), and of the DC8, below (MEA).

October 1966 witnessed the collapse of Intra Bank, which sent shockwaves throughout the whole Lebanese banking system. The origin and circumstances of Intra's fall (one of pre-war Lebanon's darkest financial episodes) are to this day controversial issues. Intra held around 65% of MEA's shares, and the bank's collapse came as a threat to MEA's future. However, the bank's assets were reorganized by the Lebanese government. The latter supported the creation of the Intra Investment Company which became MEA's main shareholder.

17-MEA's network in 1966 (left).Click on the map to go to MEA's 1966 timetable. Intra Bank was Lebanon's most powerful financial group before it collapsed in 1966.

All through this critical period, MEA continued its operations as usual. After the MEA-Air Liban merger, there were two other Lebanese airlines competing with MEA on Beirut's market. The first, Trans Mediterranean Airways (TMA), had been founded in 1953, and operated an extensive all-cargo network. TMA's expansion was impressive, as it quickly became one of the world's leading cargo airlines, operating the prestigious round the world service. A major threat came from Lebanese International Airways (LIA), the other Lebanese rival airline. LIA was founded in 1950 as Société des Transports Maritimes et Aériens, and was granted its operating license in 1955. Headed by Alphonse and Carlos Arida, LIA operated on Middle Eastern routes (Baghdad, Teheran, Doha, Bahrain, Dhahran and Kuwait) as well as to Europe (Paris, Milan and Brussels) and owned the traffic rights for South America. LIA operated a fleet of 4 Douglas DC-7s, and 2 Convair C-990A jets which made it a serious competitor on the Beirut-Paris lucrative sector. LIA attempted to take-over MEA during the unstable period of Intra's fall, without success. The Arab Israeli six days war in June 1967 disrupted MEA's operations for about two weeks, and led to the suspension of flights to Jerusalem. However, MEA was quickly able to resume all other services, and flights to Abu Dhabi were started in September 1967. By the end of 1967, MEA had transported 442000 passengers, with a slight increase compared to 1966 figures. In 1967, a rapprochement policy began between MEA and LIA, and should have led ultimately to the merger between the two airlines. In the meantime, most flights were operated on code-share basis, and the airlines published common flight schedules as of the summer of 1967.

19- MEA Boeing 707, VR-BCP on lease from British Eagle seen in 1968 in Frankfurt.

 Following Intra Bank's collapse in 1966, Douglas unilaterally cancelled MEA's order for DC-8 jets, expressing fears that the airline might not honour its financial obligations. After the situation settled MEA chose the Boeing 707-320C for the renewal of its jet fleet, and an order was placed for 4 of these aircraft in August 1968. In the meantime, MEA leased 2 Vickers VC-10s (from Ghana Airways and Laker) and 3 Boeing 720s (from Ethiopian Airlines). MEA took delivery of its first Boeing 707-320C on November 18th 1968, and no-one would have predicted at the time, neither the dramatic fate of that aircraft, nor that MEA would still be operating Boeing 707s more than 25 years later.

During the night of the 28th to the 29th of December 1968, Israeli Army Commandos attacked by surprise Beirut's International Airport, destroying 14 civilian aircraft, in order to revenge an attack perpetrated in Athens on an El-Al plane by Palestinian militants , in which an Israeli passenger was killed. MEA lost its newly acquired Boeing 707-320C, 3 Sud Aviation Caravelles, 3 de Havilland Comets, a leased Vickers VC-10 (owned by Ghana Airways) and a Vickers Viscount. LIA lost its 2 Convair CV-990A jets and a Douglas DC-7. TMA lost a Douglas DC-6, and a Douglas DC-4. The miltary operation drew unanimous international condemnation. The UN security council condemned Israel for its attack on Lebanese civilian installations, and airlines worldwide offered their help. MEA, who had lost two thirds of its fleet, resumed operations with the remaining aircraft (a Boeing 707, a Comet4C,  a Sud Aviation Caravelle, and a Viscount) less than 11 hours after the raid, combining destinations and optimizing schedules. MEA's staff worked overtime, in an unpreceded effort to save the airline.The destroyed fleet was quickly replaced with leased aircraft. MEA quickly endorsed the insurance compensation, and took advantage of the situation in order to increase its capital and homogenize its fleet by ordering exclusively Boeing 707s and 720s. This move greatly cut operating costs. While awaiting the completion of its all Boeing fleet, MEA operated 6 Convairs CV-990A on lease from American Airlines between June 1969 and March 1972. By the end of 1969 MEA had replaced its destroyed fleet with modern B707 "Cedarjets" and made substantial profits a year later. LIA was less fortunate, as it was declared bankrupt shortly after the Israeli raid, and MEA took-over its traffic rights and some of its staff. In exchange, the Lebanese government gave MEA the exclusive rights for passenger air transport until 1989 (consequently renewed until 2012). TMA quickly recovered and continued its conquest of the world's air cargo markets.
 
 

These years which saw MEA's rise as one of the world's main international airlines (ranking 18th for the size of its Boeing fleet), and to a leadership position in the Middle East, were also the years during which Lebanon was heading towards dislocation. Mounting pressure from the Arab-Israeli conflict, amplified by the "Cold War", together with the radical social, economic and demographic changes the country witnessed in a short time, led to increased tension between the different religious communities. 1973 brought the first bursts of military conflict. By the end of 1974, a generalized war became highly predictable.

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