Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut faces a set of safety and regulatory hurdles that an assessment by the UN's aviation body says could hold back the resumption of nonstop air travel with the United States. A July technical mission by the International Civil Aviation Organization identified a range of regulatory and operational shortcomings at the airport.
When the document reached Lebanese authorities that September, it outlined areas where the airport fell short in its readiness to handle long-haul international routes. According to the findings, a path toward reinstating direct air links between the United States and Lebanon — suspended for roughly four decades — faces added obstacles for the Trump administration.
Trump signed an executive order removing the travel constraints that had been in place since the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, acting on a policy initiative he had first announced the previous July.
The ICAO review found that Beirut's airport operates without a current certification and has no adequate plan in place for handling emergencies. Firefighting resources on hand are rated for narrower, single-aisle planes yet fall short of what wider twin-aisle jets — the kind routinely deployed across transatlantic corridors — would demand in an emergency.
Gaps in the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority's regulatory framework also drew attention in the report, which pointed to a shortage of certified air traffic control inspectors and the absence of a fully functioning, independent body tasked with investigating aircraft accidents.
Rasamny, who holds the public works and transport portfolio in Lebanon, told reporters that steps to address the raised concerns were already being put into place. Certification procedures for the airport are set to get under way, with a conditional green light anticipated within the coming days.
Pointing to the armed conflict in the region as the cause of earlier holdups, Rasamny noted that Lebanon had already catalogued a substantial portion of the shortcomings in question.
Bringing direct flights back between the United States and Beirut depends on the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration completing further evaluations of safety and security conditions. Projectile and drone activity across the region has periodically grounded or rerouted flights since hostilities between the United States, Israel, and Iran broadened in February.
Ongoing security concerns have left executives at three American carriers doubtful that flights to Lebanon will restart in the near term. Travel advisories for Lebanon put out by the State Department remain in place, while the FAA has separately flagged elevated risks to aircraft operating in the broader regional airspace due to military activity.
Flights to key European hubs remain on the schedule for Lebanon's flag carrier, even as the airline navigates the pressures it faces. European aviation regulators have placed the responsibility on airlines to evaluate the safety of unfamiliar airports before launching new routes there.
