Welcome to Wassim's Cedarjet Pages

I have compiled, below, some of the oddities I encountered during the preparation of the Cedarjet Pages., with a few, brief commentaries.

OD-ACM, "Doha", MEA's only Bristol 140 Freighter was used between 1955 and 1959. This all-cargo plane held the Cedar logo somewhat unusually just below the cockpit. Photos: MEA (left), John Stroudt (Right).

Although not directly related to MEA, I found this Lebanese aviation oddity too interesting to be concealed. Lebanese Air Transport, LAT, operates mostlyas a handling agent at Beirut International Airport. It is still active today and services airlines flying into BEY and not using MEA's handling company (recently named MEAS). However, LAT used to operate charter and Air Taxi flights, and the featured Antonov An24, OD-AEN, bought by LAT in 1964 was the first airliner of that type to be exported by the USSR to any country in the world. This was also to my knowledge the only purchase ever by a Lebanese operator of a Soviet built airliner. It will be sold consecutively to Egypt's Misrair and returned to the USSR in 1975. Photo: Copyright Unknown. Notice on the tail above the Cedar Logo, the LATCO title, instead of the current LAT title currently used by the BEY handling agent (left).

OD-ACI, a DC4 C-54B probably inherited through the merger with Air Liban, and used very briefly, seen in London (1964?). Copyright Ken Wilkinson @Airliners.net. Before seeing this picture in August 2003, I did not know that MEA used the DC-4 at any time of its history.

MEA was a potential customer for the supersonic Concorde. In 1963, MEA placed an order for 2 Concordes, reserving positions 35 and 49 of the airliner's production list. The flight from Beirut to London could have been done in 90mns, a flight time MEA passengers can still dream of in 2003. The airline expected to take delivery of its Concordes in 1971. As Concorde operations proved to be substantially uneconomic and problematic, the orders were cancelled a few years later. Photo: artist's impression, Aerospatiale postcard.

With the demise of the Concorde project, MEA was still looking for a successor to the Comet. Initially, MEA chose the Douglas DC-8-62, and planned to order a whole fleet of "Super 62s". Training of MEA's crew by KLM was under way, and everything was being prepared for delivery of the aricraft by September 1967. However, Douglas' offer was unilaterally withdrawn in October 1966, on the very same day MEA officials were flying to Long Beach in order to sign the DC-8 deal. The reason of that withdrawal was the fall of Intra Bank, MEA's main shareholder. MEA was thus never to fly the DC-8, and turned when the situation with Intra settled, to the Boeing 707. When one thinks retrospectively that the Boeing 707 remained in service with MEA well into the nineties, and that for the coming 3 decades MEA had one of the largest Boeing 707/720 fleet in the Middle East, it is certain that Douglas had lost there an important customer... This photo, again an artist's impression, was found in a MEA issued brochure on Beirut. It features a livery that MEA planned to adopt for the delivery of the DC-8s. Another, more modern logo, was to be chosen, as the Boeing 707s were introduced in 1968.

While MEA awaited the delivery of its own Boeing 707s, it used aircraft on lease from other carriers, including 3 Boeing 720s on lease from Ethiopian Airlines, used between 1966 and 1968. Above, ET-ABP is featured with the hybrid Ethiopian-MEA livery. Copyright unknown.

Having chosen the Airbus A310 as a replacement for its Boeing 707 fleet in 1981, MEA placed an order for 5 A310s, to be delivered gradually in 1984. Airbus Industrie issued these stickers, featuring a slightly altered livery (the red stripes are below the windows). MEA will be forced to cancel this order because of the worsening trend in Lebanon's war. However, MEA will use leased A310s between 1992 and 2003. Photo: Airbus Industrie.

Another interesting livery from the eighties. In 1985, MEA had leased out its own Boeing 747s. However, the situation in Lebanon being extremely chaotic at that time, MEA needed to take advantage of lucrative non scheduled services out of Beirut, and these included the Mecca pilgrimage Hadj flights. So, paradoxically, MEA was to lease from Guiness Peat in this Boeing 747-100 for the 1985 Hadj season. This strange livery features a single red stripe well above the window line. Photo: K.G Wright from Boeing 747 by P.R Smith, Airlife Editors, 1990.

In 1992, MEA was finally able to introduce the Airbus A310. This one, still featured a hybrid Lufthansa-MEA livery. I remember personally travelling on that particular plane from Paris-Orly to Beirut during the Summer of 1993. The interior of the plane was still a Lufthansa interior.
Copyright, Frank Ebeling @Airliners.net.

Oddities are entertaining and often carry interesting anecdotes. Do not hesitate to share any of your unusual pictures via the Cedarjet Pages.