Middle East Airlines Beirut after five years: the Lebanese carrier through hard years, the Paris and Gulf network, the pay in dollars and why crew stay

Middle East Airlines, Beirut, five years, and the Lebanese on this forum are all applying to the Gulf. Nobody has written the home carrier, which has flown through every kind of year Lebanon has had and is still flying. Here it is.

The airline

MEA, the Lebanese national carrier, Beirut based, an all Airbus fleet (A320neos, A321neos, A330s) to Europe (Paris heavily, London, Frankfurt, Rome, Milan, Geneva, the diaspora cities), the Gulf (Dubai, Doha, Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait), Africa (Abidjan, Lagos, Accra) and the region. A small airline with a huge diaspora and a Paris route that is the spine of the operation.

Recruitment

Lebanese nationals, in rounds when the fleet grows, with fluent Arabic, French and English expected (the Lebanese trilingual standard is the requirement and the advantage), the reach, no visible tattoos, and a medical. The assessment is small and personal and the crew know the recruiters. Foreign hires are rare.

The pay in dollars

This is the thing. MEA pays cabin crew largely in dollars, which through the Lebanese currency collapse has made the airline one of the few employers in the country whose salaries kept their value. The basic and the allowances in dollars, the layover allowances in the destination currency. For Lebanon, an MEA salary is a good salary and the airline is a prestige employer for that reason among others.

The hard years

The port explosion, the currency collapse, the political crises, the regional conflicts that close the airspace and the routes. MEA kept flying through all of it, sometimes as the only airline into Beirut. The crew who were here for those years have a specific bond and a specific pride. The airline is a national institution in a way that is hard to explain to crew from stable countries.

The flying

Paris three times a day, the European turnarounds and night stops, the Gulf turnarounds at difficult hours, the Africa routes with the layovers in Abidjan and Accra, and a service that is Lebanese: the food, the warmth, the trilingual announcements. The passengers are the diaspora going home and leaving again, and the crew know many of them.

Why crew stay

The dollars, honestly. The home base in Beirut with family close. The Paris route as a second home. The airline's identity through the hard years. And the Gulf, which recruits Lebanese trilinguals eagerly and which a share of MEA crew do go to, and a share come back from.

Versus the Gulf for a Lebanese

The Gulf pays more and provides housing; MEA pays in dollars and you live at home. The Gulf is the world; MEA is Paris and the diaspora. The Beirut to Gulf commute the Etihad thread describes means the Gulf crew are home often; the MEA crew are home always. Most Lebanese apply to both. The ones who stay at MEA are the ones for whom Beirut is not negotiable.