By Wassim Chemaitelli

MEA 'S BLACK YEARS: 1985-1989

Security conditions continued to deteriorate all through 1985 in BEY,as it fell under the control of irregular armed factions. MEA had to reduce its frequencies, and to combine flights, introducing flight routings reminescent of those of the fifties, combining Paris with London or Geneva, Athens with Milan and Frankfurt with Zurich. A weekly flight to Damascus was launched in pool partnetrship with Syrian Arab Airlines (which operated a weekly flight to Beirut using one of its Super-Caravelles). Flights to Ras Alkhaymah were discontinued, whereas other destinations in the Middle East were maintained with reduced frequencies. MEA continued operating in the worst conditions one could imagine.

 Symptomatic of the airline's difficulties, issuing the "Cedarjet" in-flight magazine was suspended by July 1985.The editorial of the last issue, number 21, was emotionally entitled "Delivering the Goods", a task MEA's Cedarjets never quit. Beirut International Airport became notorious after the TWA Boeing 727 hijacking, and the role the militiamen stationed in BEY played in that crisis during the summer of 1985. MEA was banned from flying to the USA, and BEY came under boycott from the US authorities, which will last in its different aspects up to this day. MEA had to cancel its flights to New York and a sale and lease-back agreement was signed with American Express regarding the 3 Boeing 747s in 1985. According to this agreement, in exchange of immediatly available liquidity, American Express purchased the 3 planes, which were to be registered in the USA. However, they could not ne sold to any airline except MEA provided the latter paid regularily a payment agreed upon with American Express. In the meantime 2 Boeing 747s were leased to British Airways and the third to Egyptair. In 1985,  MEA carried 565,792 passengers but losses reached 26.7 million USD  . 

Few foreign airlines continued flying to Beirut, mainly East European airlines (Tarom by Rombac 1-11 and Ilyushin Il18, Balkan by Tupolev TU 134 or Ilyushin Il18, Interflug by Ilyushin Il62, Aeroflot by Tupolev TU 134 and TU154,Malèv by Tupolev TU 134, L.O.T by Ilyushin Il18, CSA by Tupolev Tu134 and Ilyushin Il62) and a few Arab air-carriers (Syrian Arab Airlines by Super Caravelle, Alia-The Royal Jordanian Airline by Boeing 727). Alia's price-cutting policies were a difficult challenge to MEA, but even the Jordanian airline had to cease its flights to Beirut when  its Boeing 727 "City of Madaba" was blown-up on BEY's tarmac on June 6th 1985.

45-MEA boarding pass, luggage tags and meal menu from the mid-eighties.

 As rival military factions clashed among themselves in West Beirut, the Syrian Army intervened in 1986 and restored some security and order in BEY which came under its control. But MEA's operations were slightly affected, frequencies were not significantly increased. Despite the leasing-in from Guiness Peat Aviation (GPA) of a Boeing 747-100 in order to make the most of the Hadji flights lucrative season, and carrying 568,198 passengers, the airline made a 603.9 million L.L, approx 9 million USD, loss for the 1986 exercise .

 The parties controling East Beirut grew impatient as their territory lacked regular air services. MEA came under increasing pressure by the end of 1986 and the beginning of 1987 in order to operate flights to and from the "Halate airstrip", which was an enlarged section of the Beirut-Tripoli highway near Jbeil. MEA came under the opposite parties' pressure which expressed opposition to the move. Amidst these events, one of MEA's Boeing 707s was destroyed on February 1st 1987, on BEY's tarmac, as East Beirut's armed factions decided to shell the airport until MEA used the airstrip in their territory. MEA never flew to Halate, triggering, thus, plans for the creation of an airline based in East Beirut, to be called "Flying Wave", by the Chamoun family in order to operate scheduled flights from Halate to Larnaca. Nothing came out of these plans. This highly explosive environment led to BEY's closure for a total 107 days (between February and May 1987). MEA's losses in MEA were 1587.8 million L.L, approx 3 millions USD. These conditions, which plagued the 1987 exercise, did not prevent MEA from taking pragmatic decisions for its Boeing 707 ageing fleet, as it equipped 3 of the Boeing 707-320s with hushkits in order to meet European noise regulation requirements until 1989 with financial assistance from American Express. A new livery was adopted for the occasion, slightly different from that of the seventies, and the hushkitted Boeing 707 Cedarjets proudly held the "NewQ" mention on their fuselage. The Airbus order, from which 2 aircraft were already in production line, was cancelled as MEA could not engage in any fleet modernization scheme at that time. The two Airbuses were to be affected later on by Airbus to CAAC of the People's Republic of China. In 1988, MEA witnessed a 50 days pilot strike, and the airline had to charter aircraft and crews from other airlines, such as Air-India limited. It renewed the lease of its Boeing 747s, re-introduced flights to Tripoli, Libya and managed to reduce losses almost seven fold by the end of 1988 to 237.5 million LL, approx 0.45 million USD,  in its best results since 1984, having carried 562,536 passengers.
 
 

 In 1989, Lebanon entered in the last convulsions of its war, as generalized armed conflict raged between the armed militias controling East Beirut backed by a faction of the regular Lebanese governmental forces on one hand, and Syrian forces and their allies on the other hand. BEY was closed for traffic during a record 196 days, from March to October 1989. MEA had to move its airplane out of Beirut, and re-initiated its charter and aircraft leasing plan, moving its hub to Paris-Orly once again.

When MEA able to return to its BEY home-base, its fleet consisted of 7 Boeing 707-320s, 5 Boeing 720s and retained exclusive rights on the 3 Boeing 747-200s sold and leased back from American Express. BEY's installations were severely damaged, Lebanon's economy as a whole was crippled, and the war continued in East Beirut between former allies, paving the way for their defeat by the Syrian army , placing all Lebanon under Syrian dominance. In the meantime MEA progressively re-established its flight network, and continued fitting hushkits to the rest of its Boeing 707-320s. It also bought a hushkitted Boeing 707-320B from Ports-of-Call Airlines in order to respond to the predicted surge in BEY's activity. Losses for 1989 reached 10885.9 million L.L, nearly 21.5 million USD, MEA having carried 218,704 passengers, the lowest total since the 1960s.

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