A second airport in North Lebanon raises hope and many questions

Amid the vast swathes of farmland in Akkar, Lebanon’s northern-most region, known more for its immense poverty than anything else, sits Qlayaat airport. Quiet and largely unused, it has faded from memory for most Lebanese and, for those living in Akkar, it is just another “landmark” used for directions.

But after the 2024 war between Hezbollah and Israel threatened Lebanon’s only commercial airport in Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport, discussion over rehabilitating Qlayaat airport, officially known as the Rene Mouawad Airport, once again came to the forefront. The broad support for the project was clear: Lebanon needed a second airport, and Qlayaat was the prefect candidate.

When Prime Minister Nawaf Salam visited Qlayaat on March 25, 2025 during a trip to the north, he made the plans official. “We are committed to getting Qleyaat airport up and running within a year,” he stated.

Nearly a year later, the Lebanese government says it plans to operationalise the airport before the start of the summer tourism season.

Should the government succeed in opening the airport after decades of being restricted to military use, it could turn Lebanon’s north into an economic hub and help to slowly lift it out of the economic woes that it has been left to almost since its inception. This, however, wholly relies on how Lebanon uses the airport.

“It would make more economic sense if it's designed to serve both Lebanon and Syria,” Walid Marrouch, a professor of economics at the Lebanese American University, told The New Arab. “If you only see it from a Lebanese context, its context will be very limited and very modest.”

A crossroad for nations

Despite Akkar being one of Lebanon’s largest governorates, it is also one of the most isolated. Where Beirut airport sits in the capital and is only a short drive from the city, Qlayaat is located in an area that would take around an hour to arrive in Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city, and potentially, an extra hour to arrive in Beirut.

Because of this, Marrouch argued that the new airport could serve as a transit point for those travelling to the Syrian coast or hinterlands.

Should there be peace and security between Lebanon and Syria, he explained, Qlayaat could potentially serve three major cities: Tartus, Homs, and Tripoli.

This would also create jobs in a region where unemployment is the highest in the country. In particular, it could turn the area around the airport into a transportation hub for those seeking not only to go to Beirut but also to Syria, given that the border is only a short drive away.

“Especially as the Syrian economy starts to recover and grow, and also, this will have a spill-over effect on the northern part of Lebanon,” Marrouch said.

In general, with the opening of the airport, a spokesperson for Lebanon’s Tourism Ministry told The New Arab that they expected it to have a positive economic impact on Lebanon’s north, but they added that there were currently no plans to do a targeted tourism campaign for the north, instead, insisting on the importance of promoting Lebanon in its entirety as a tourism destination.

The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation did not respond when asked for comment on the development of Qlayaat airport, though there has been no indication from the government yet that the airport will be used as a bridge to Syria.

Qlayaat, in its initial reopening, is expected to primarily cater to budget airlines coming from Cyprus, Turkey and the Gulf Arab nations as the airport’s infrastructure remains limited. 

Potential for expansion

Currently, Qlayaat airport has only one runway and one taxiway, meaning flights in and out would be much more limited, requiring alternation between takeoffs and landings.

This, however, is an easily solvable problem.

Unlike Beirut airport, which is surrounded by the city and cannot expand its number of runways, Qlayaat is located in a rural area.

“It’s possible to build another runway [at Qlayaat] because it’s mostly on agricultural land,” Marrouch said. “If, really, there is a demand in the future to build another runway– to have two or maybe three.”

How Qlayaat is developed, though, would depend on which company is handling its rehabilitation and future maintenance. 

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport proposed that Middle East Airport Services (MEAS), a subsidiary of Lebanon’s national flag carrier, Middle East Airlines (MEA), but this has been met with some criticism since it would continue MEA’s monopoly on air travel in Lebanon. If MEAS is not selected to manage the airport, it could delay Qlayaat’s opening past the summer deadline as the government searches for international companies to operate the airport, a practice Marrouch noted has been used for several airports around the world.

“We don’t have this open sky policy. The Lebanese authorities still limit competition and try to protect Middle East Airlines from real competition,” Marrouch stated. “So, if Lebanon changes policy and allows for open skies, I think we can have many of the European and regional budget airlines using the airport, both airports actually.”

MEA, though, seems set on continuing its monopoly at Lebanon’s airports.

In November 2025, MEA chairman Mohammad Hout announced that his company would launch a new budget airline, “Fly Beirut,” to operate from a new terminal in Beirut and potentially from a revitalized Qlayaat.

On the surface, Lebanon having a budget airline, especially given travellers' long complaints about MEA’s high prices, sounds like a positive development. Marrouch, however, had a different view on the matter.

“This is a typical anti-competitive strategy done by monopolies or by oligopolies to saturate the market and prevent competition,” he explained. “By occupying the budget segment, this would deny entry for budget airlines.”

In establishing “Fly Beirut,” MEA is not seeking to offer air travel at lower prices but to ensure it can limit others, such as Pegasus, a popular airline used by Lebanese, from gaining a foothold in the Lebanese market.

While it might be starting small, Qlayaat has significant potential for Lebanon. But it all depends on how the Lebanese government plans on using it.

“The north is a poor governorate. It’s not going to do much to that region if you don’t develop it in the regional context,” Marrouch said.