THE CEDARJET PAGES

By Wassim Chemaitelli

BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, MARCH 1968

I-Flights to Istanbul, Jeddah, Kano, Karachi, Khartoum, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait.
City Country Airline Aircraft Flight/week FromBEYvia ToBEYvia
Istanbul Turkey MEA Caravelle 1
THY Viscount 2 Adana-Ankara Ankara-Adana
Lufthansa Boeing707 2
SAS Caravelle 2
PAA Boeing707 7
PIA Boeing707 2
Austrian A/L Caravelle 1
KLM DC9 1
Jeddah Saudi Arabia MEA Comet 4
MEA VC10 1
MEA Convair990 2
Saudia Boeing707 5
Saudia Boeing707 1 eastbound only
Kano Nigeria MEA Boeing707 1
UAA Comet 2 Cairo Cairo
Karachi Pakistan MEA Convair990 2
PIA Boeing707 4
KLM DC8 2
PAA Boeing707 3
PAA Boeing707 1 westbound only
BOAC VC10 1 Doha
BOAC VC10 1 Bahrain-Dubai
BOAC Boeing707 1 eastbound only
BOAC Boeing707 1
Khartoum Sudan MEA Comet 1
MEA Comet 1 Jeddah Jeddah
Sudan A/W Comet 2 Cairo Cairo
Kuala Lumpur Malaysia KLM DC8 1 Bangkok Bangkok
Air-India Boeing707 1 westbound only Madras-Bombay
BOAC VC10 1 Bombay-Colombo eastbound only
BOAC Boeing707 1 westbound only Delhi
Kuwait Kuwait MEA Caravelle 1
MEA Comet 1
LIA Convair990 1
LIA Comet 1
Kuwait A/W Comet 3
Kuwait A/W Trident 2

A noteworthy absent in this page: Jerusalem. Flights between Lebanon and Palestine were suspended after East Jerusalem fell under Israeli occupation. The city was lost to Israel as a result of the Six Days War in 1967. Prior to these events, MEA flew its Viscounts three times daily to the Holy City.

Saudia's Boeing 707s flew from Beirut to Jeddah, Riyadh, Dhahran, Tripoli, Tunis, Rabat, Vienna, Geneva and London. The last DC-3s to be seen in BEY were Saudia's, serving on the Medina-Tabuk-Beirut sector. Copyright George Gayuski@Airliners.net.
 
 
 
 

Pakistan International Airlines flew its Boeing 707s from Beirut to Karachi, Frankfurt, Geneva, Istanbul, London and Teheran. Copyright Abbas Ali @ PIA history website.
 
 

Sudan Airways' Comets were flown on the Khartoum-Cairo-Beirut sector. Postcard from George Gayuski's collection.

Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) is one of the pioneer airlines in the Gulf. Beirut was one of the first destinations served by the airline in 1954 with DC-3 equipment, second only to nearby Basrah in southern Iraq. By 1968, KAC was flying to Beirut with Comets. KAC will play a remarkable role in supporting MEA after the December 1968 Israeli agression, by making immediatly available its whole Comet fleet for lease by the Lebanese airline. Left photograph by Bruno Barbey, in Koweit, Série Rencontres, Lausanne, 1967. Right: postcard from Peter Goodearl's collection.

L-Flights to Lagos, London, Madras, Manila, Medina, Milan, Monrovia, Moscow, Munich.
 
 
City Country Airline Aircraft Flight/week FromBEYvia ToBEYvia
Lagos Nigeria MEA Boeing707 1 Kano-Abidjan Abidjan-Kano
UAA Comet 1 Cairo-Kano Kano-Cairo
Ghana A/W VC10 1
London UK MEA VC10 7
BEA Trident 2 Athens Athens
PAA Boeing707 7 Istanbul-Frankfurt Frankfurt-Istanbul
Iraqi A/W Trident 1 Vienna-Prague Prague-Vienna
Saudia Boeing707 2 Geneva Geneva
Iran Air Boeing 727 1 Rome-Frankfurt-
Hamburg		 Hamburg-Frankfurt-
Rome
PIA Boeing707 2 Istanbul-Geneva Geneva-Frankfurt
PIA Boeing707 2 Frankfurt Frankfurt
Air-India Boeing707 1 Paris Paris-Rome
Air-India Boeing707 1 Prague-Rome Rome-Prague
Air-India Boeing707 1 Frankfurt-Paris Frankfurt
Air-India Boeing707 1 Geneva Geneva
BOAC VC10 3
BOAC VC10 1 eastbound only Zurich
BOAC Boeing707 3
BOAC Boeing707 1 Frankfurt Frankfurt
BOAC Boeing707 1 Zurich Zurich
BOAC VC10 1 Frankfurt
Madras India Air-India Boeing707 1 Bombay Bombay
Air-India Boeing707 1 westbound only Bombay
Manila Philippines KLM DC8 1 Bangkok-Kuala
Lumpur-Singapore		 Kuala Lumpur-
Bangkok
KLM DC8 1 Karachi-Delhi-
Bangkok		 Bangkok-Delhi
KLM DC8 1 westbound only Bangkok
Medina Saudi Arabia Saudia DC3 1 Tabuk Tabuk
Milan Italy LIA Convair990 2
Monrovia Liberia MEA Boeing707 1 Accra-Freetown Freetown-Accra
Moscow USSR Aeroflot Tu104 1
Munich Germany Lufthansa Boeing707 4
Lufthansa Boeing707 2 Istanbul Istanbul

Beirut was an important destination in BOAC's impressive route network system. BA flights connected Beirut with Baghdad, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Abadan in the Middle East, Karachi, Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and Colombo in the Indian sub-continent, Rangoon, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in South East Asia, Hong Kong, Tokyo in the Far East, Brisbane, Darwin, Sydney, Perth and Auckland in Oceania and to Frankfurt, Zurich and London in Europe. Flights were operated using Boeing 707s and VC-10s like the one featured on the picture above, taken at London Heathrow Airport around 1968. Copyright Peter Goodearl@The Air Days website.

British European Airways BEA operated 2 weekly flights from London to Beirut via Athens. Copyright Paul Robinson@Airliners.net.

Aeroflot flew modern Tupolev Tu-104 jets to Beirut in 1968 once weekly. Copyright Mksim Starotsin @The Russian Aviation Museum.

N-Flights to Nandi, New York, Nicosia, Oran.
City Country Airline Aircraft Flight/week FromBEYvia ToBEYvia
Nandi Fiji Air-India Boeing707 1 westbound only Perth-HongKong-
Singapore-Madras-
Bombay
New York USA Air-India Boeing707 1 Paris-London London-Paris-Rome
Air-India Boeing707 1 Prague-Rome-
London		 London-Rome-Prague
Air-India Boeing707 1 Frankfurt-Paris-
London		 London-Frankfurt
PAA Boeing707 7 Istanbul-Frankfurt-
London		 London-Frankfurt-
Istanbul
PAA Boeing707 4 Rome-Paris Paris-Rome
Nicosia Cyprus MEA Viscount 6
Cyprus A/W Viscount 6
Olympic Comet 1
Oran Algeria Air Algérie Caravelle 1 Cairo-Tripoli-
Tunis-Algiers		 Westbound only

Beirut was Pan American World Airways' Middle Eastern Hub. Pan Am's Boeing 707 Clipper Jets, flew from Beirut to Baltimore, Washington DC, New York, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, Istanbul, Teheran, Karachi, Delhi, Calcutta, Rangoon, Saigon, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Honolulu and San Francisco. Copyright Thomas Hill, via Dave Hill@The Montreal Dorval Airport Enthusiast Page.

Cyprus Airways made the short flight to Beirut from Nicosia with Viscounts. Copyright Cyprus Airways.

 

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