THE CEDARJET
PAGES 
By Wassim Chemaitelli
-Günter G Endres. Middle East Airlines Air Liban, Airline History No.62. Air Pictorial, December 1983.
-Najib Alamuddin. The Flying Sheikh.Quarter Books. London, 1987.
-John Munro. Out on a Wing, the Story of Wafic Ajouz and MEA. Masters Publication and Communication. Beirut, 1986.
-Reginald Turnill. Battle for Survival. Maxcliff Publishing Company. London.1977.
-Anonymous. MEA: The Story of an Airline. Cedarjet. No6. Summer 1981.
-MEA's 1984 annual report.
-MEA's History. Training and Development Section. 1994.
-Wafic Ajouz. (In Arabic) How MEA was founded. Cedarwings magazine.Issue 43. January-February 1999.
-Al Nahar daily newspaper issues: February 1st 1987 on the Halate Crisis, August 17th 1992 on MEA's 1986-1991 activity report.
-Flight International. World Airline Directory. Years 1991-1996, for yearly reports on MEA.
-Aircraft Illustrated and Air Display International,March 1997, for MEA's fleet renewal program information.
-The Daily Star Online Magazine Archives, for MEA's news since 1998.
1-J. Jackson in Airline History No62, Günter G Endres, 1983.
3-Léon Sire de Vilar in Syrie et Liban, André Geiger, Arthaud Editeurs, Grenoble, 1942.
4-Unknown,in Liban-Guide vert by Rouhi Jamil, Beirut, 1948.
5-Unknown, in MEA:The Story of an Airline, Cedarjet No6, Summer 1981.
6-Advertisement from W. Ajouz's report. Cedarwings issue 43.1998.
7-Left: from Daniel Kusrow's collection. Right: Unknown, via John Havers in Airline History No62, Günter G Endres.1983.
8-Left: John Stroudt, in Airline History No62, Günter G Endres, 1983. Right: from Daniel Kusrow's collection.
10-Unknown, in Terres Saintes, Odé Editeurs, Paris, 1956.
11-MEA,in Les Libanais et la vie au Liban 1943-1975,
anonymous article, Cedarwings No13, Jan-Feb 1993.
12bis- MEA.
13, 16-Peter Goodearl, The Air Days website.
15- MEA postcard via the Airline Postcard website
15bis - Ken Wilkinson @Airliners.net
14-Mel Lawrence@Airliners.net
18, 22, 24, 25, 27, 32, 35 -MEA, from Jamil Itani's collection @Airliners.net
19- Gunter Grondstein@Airliners.net.
20- Peter Goodearl, The Air Days website.
21, 23, 34 - MEA
26, 28, 43, 57- Steve Williams@Airliners.net.
29-Johan Ljungdahl @Airliners.net
30-Paul Goddard @Airliners.net
31, 41, 49, 53 - Frank Ebeling.
40-Nabil Sargologo.
46-Unknown, Al-Nahar daily, February 1st 1987.
47- Torsten Maiwald, Airliners.net website.
48- Sven Pipjorke, Flugzeugbilder.de website.
49-Daniel Dufner, Aviation Marketplace at Bird Publishing website.
50-Christian Waser, Airliners.net website.
55- Savvas Petoussis@ Airliners.net
57-Mike Kara, VA-MEA website.
59- Airbus Industrie, via George Gayuski.
61-Salim Helou@Airliners.net
62-Patrick Lutz @Airliners.net
63-Gérard Mouret, Spotting in Paris Airports website.
64-Chris Sheldon @Airliners.net
65- Jason Taperell @Airliners.net
66- Gerd Beilfuss@Flugzeugbilder.de
67-Airbus, MEA via Jamil Itani
68-Jamil Itani @ Plane Pictures.net
69-Jamil Itani
70-French Frogs AirSlides@Airliners.net
71-Jamil Itani.
73-75 Hisham Atallah @Airliners.net.
76-Gregory Buchakjian @ Baronbaron.com
Other pictures are scanned from my personal collection.
This work, in a way, can trace its roots back to February 26th 1981. I was in fifth grade when I visited with my classmates of the Collège Protestant Français Beirut's International Airport. In this occasion we visited MEA's hangars, and one of its Boeing 720s. That was the first time I set foot on a plane. I left the plane with a trophy, an issue of the Cedarjet magazine. It was the one in which MEA announced its A310 order.
The next step was made in July 1986. I was 15
years old then, and was quite crazy about air-transport in general, and MEA
in particular, whose noisy Cedarjets became our only link with the outside
world. I went to the nearest MEA office, which happened to be the Verdun
branch, and shyly asked for informations on MEA's history and for a picture
of a B747. The office manager, Mr Khaled Junblat, whom I cannot thank enough,
gave me his card, on which he introduced me to Mr Wafic Ajouz,
MEA's public relations vice-president. I went, unannounced, to MEA's
HQ on July 10th 1986. I was met by Ms Ismat Mneimneh, who gave me a
photocopy of Günter G. Endres's report on MEA's history, which
is the document I used the most for this site, as well as the B747
Seattle picture from MEA's archives. So, I'd also like to thank Ms Mneimneh,
even if all that happened a long time ago.
Afterwards I kept informed about MEA, collected every item I could have on the airline, read Mr Munro and Mr Alamuddin's books, the latter being the best account I ever read on MEA.
I set on building these pages as soon as I learned HTML, as MEA's official site did not contain any section on the airline's history.The views exposed are mine, and of course do not engage MEA in any aspect.
The first version of the Cedarjet Pages, a single html page, was uploaded on February 11th 2000. Today, the Cedarjet Pages contain more than 335 pictures and 104 html files including a complete version of the text in French.
Middle East Airlines - Air Libanofficial website: information on the airline's current operations.
Beirut International Airport (BEY): Official website of MEA's homebase.
The Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) website: precious information on all member airlines regularily updated.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA)website: interesting links with all member airlines' websites.
Trans Mediterranean
Airways website of Lebanon's all-cargo airline.
The TMA History
Pages: Sister site devoted to Lebanon's all-cargo airline.
The
Independent Guide to the Lebanese Air Force: A unique website devoted
to Lebanon's Air Force by Vatche Mitilian.
Airliners.net: The biggest collection of airliner photographs.
Flugzeugbilder.de: A great selection of airliner pictures.
The Air Days website: rare pictures of airliners from the 60's and 70's.
Spotting in Paris Airports: features interesting pictures of airlines operating in Paris airports.
VA-MEA/Wings Over Lebanon The must for flight simulation in Lebanon's virtual airspace.
The Daily Star Online : daily news on Lebanon and the Middle East.
Les Registres du Monde: Pascal Brugier's fleets of the world.
Timetable
Images: Bjorn Larsson and David Zekria's great site on airline
timetables worldwide.
Baron&Baron:
Travel website with lots of aviation links
Fairouz.com:
A website on another Lebanese legend : Fairouz and the Rahbanis.
The
Syrianair History Pages: So close and yet so different...
Your opinion matters, your feedback is precious. Feel free to send any information you find pertinent, or to send any pictures you would like to see featured on these pages.