Beirut airport bombing puts Lebanese economy, Mideast aviation in disarray
By JIM KRANE
AP Worldstream; Jul 13, 2006
Hundreds of travellers were left stranded and Lebanon faced losses of
millions of dollars a day after Israeli airstrikes smashed runways at
Beirut airport, forcing the closure of the country’s only air outlet
to the world.
Airlines around the region quickly increased their flights to
neighboring Syria, now the only way in and out of Lebanon. Thousands
of people took to the Beirut-Damascus highway, most heading out to
catch flights in the Syrian capital.
Some stranded travellers, however were looking for a way in.
Imad Hajjar was on his way from Paris to Lebanon for his wedding,
scheduled for July 29, when his flight was diverted to Cyprus, where
three Beirut-bound flights landed after Israel’s early morning strike.
At Larnaca’s Flamingo hotel, the 32-year-old Hajjar was following
the news on his laptop, trying to decide what to do.
"Everything is booked and ready for the wedding. We’ve been planning
it for a year now," said Hajjar, whose fiancee was supposed to fly
out from France to join him on Friday.
"Do I stay here, or go to Syria?" Hajjar said.
Even Lebanon’s foreign minister, Fawzi Salloukh, was affected. He
had to work his way home by land through Syria from a trip to Armenia.
Saad Hariri, the head of the anti-Syrian bloc in Lebanon’s parliament,
ended up in Cyprus, returning from China, so he took the opportunity
to perform some diplomacy, heading to Egypt and Jordan to meet with
those countries’ leaders.
The closure of Rafik Hariri International Airport _ named after Saad’s
slain father, the former prime minister _ will cost Lebanon millions
of dollars a day in lost tourism revenue, said Amr Abdel-Ghaffar of
the U.N. World Tourism Organization in Madrid.
"The longer the airport stays closed, the bigger the impact is,"
he said.
Lebanon is a top summer vacation spot for Saudis, Emiratis, Kuwaitis
and others, as well as for the huge Lebanese community in the Gulf.
Five empty planes of Lebanon’s national carrier, Middle East
Airlines, flew to Cyprus to spare them from possible damage in any
new airstrikes, said the director of civil aviation on the east
Mediterranean island, Leonidas Leonidou. Three more were expected
Friday, he said.
Tourism accounts for 12 to 15 percent of Lebanon’s US$23.7 billion
(euro18.7 billion) GDP, said Abdel-Ghaffar. Arrivals in 2006 were 49
percent above those of 2005, when the assassination of former Prime
Minister Hariri in February kept many visitors away, Abdel-Ghaffar
said.
"It’s been a spectacular recovery," he said. "The Lebanese are
preparing for the high summer season and were expecting a significantly
increased number of tourists, especially from the Gulf region."
"Unfortunately this will have a direct affect on the tourism economy,"
he said.
Many Gulf Arabs stopped vacationing in the West, especially in the
United States, after the Sept. 11 attacks, and Lebanon has been
a beneficiary.
The World Tourism Organization plans to hold an International
Conference on Safety and Security in Tourism in Beirut in late
October. Abdel-Ghaffar said the conference may have to be shifted
elsewhere, depending on how events unfold.
In Dubai, the Mideast’s largest air hub, six flights to Beirut on
four carriers were canceled Thursday.
Emirates airline said it was accommodating stranded travelers in
hotels. "We’re monitoring the situation. It’s not under our control,"
an Emirates executive said, speaking on condition of anonymity because
she was not permitted to speak to the press.
In Dubai’s neighboring emirate of Sharjah, budget carrier Air Arabia
allowed vacationers to exchange Beirut-bound tickets for last-minute
flights to Egypt, Turkey and elsewhere at no extra cost.
Carriers in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other countries quickly doubled
their flights to Damacus, now unable to fly to Beirut.
The Israeli strike blasted holes in all three of Beirut airport’s
runways. Lebanese Public Works Minister Mohammed Safadi inspected the
airport and said the damage would take up to 48 hours to repair. But
the reopening of the airport would be a Cabinet decision, he added.
____
Associated Press writer George Psyllides in Nicosia and correspondents
in the Mideast contributed to this report.