Even though Syria is in a state of war, and almost every airplane company has prohibited flights of its civilian airlines over Syrian territory (even Russia!), MEA planes are still using the Syrian airspace and endangering the lives of their staff and passengers.
The reason why Russia stopped its planes from flying over Syria is after “ground-to-air missiles were fired at a Russian passenger jet flying over the strife-torn Arab nation”, so the threat is real and there were previous rumors that two of MEA’s planes were targeted by surface-to-air missiles in Syrian airspace but they were denied.
However, a MEA pilot few days ago was asked to delay his landing and spend some time above Syrian airspace, during which he apparently took pictures of the clashes taking place underneath him and emailed them to other pilots to warn them. After the administration became aware of this email, they suspended the pilot according to this report and denied any threats on the MEA airplanes.
I don’t quite understand why any civilian plane would want to fly above Syrian airspace with everything that’s happening, and I hope that the MEA Administration will stop these flights before a disastrous scenario occurs. What is surprising is that many people are still going on these flights, as if a cheaper ticket is more important than their safety.
I don’t know about cheaper tickets, i found it cheaper flying london–>dubai–>beirut via emirates than flying direct london–>beirut on MEA. it’s rather nasty.
it’s always more expensive when you take a direct flight than it is when you take a flight with 1 or several stops 🙂
Not always true- BA is often cheaper on the London-Beirut flight and that doesn’t stop. MEA is very overpriced. I’ve seen London-Beirut-London as much as £700 return. I could get to Australia for less
I don’t think jazeera airways, emirates airlines and kuwait airways stopped flying over Syria. I actually don’t think any airline from the gulf heading to Lebanon has stopped flying over Syria. it has nothing to do with us passengers choosing a cheaper flight since we don’t have an option, all flights fly over Syria.
The quickest way to Lebanon from the gulf is over Syria or Israel. To fly around those two countries would probably add an hour or two to the flight. No one wants that.
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/royal-jordanian-stops-flying-over-syrian-airspace-491765.html
Check the first comment by Jad Aoun.
“Qatar Airways, Emirates and Saudi Arabian Airways all stopped flying over Syria in late February. Beirut flights have been all affected with at least 1 hour flight time added.”
I heard that they stopped it as well and flights are now longer but can’t confirm it.
actually mark emirates and etihad both uae flights have taken other routes in order not to fly over syria hence making their flights longer
Airlines from the gulf stopped flying over Syria, yesterday i came from Dubai onboard Emirates, the flight took us 4:00 hrs instead of the 3hrs05mins.
All flights including MEA have been suspended from flying over Syria since well over one month.
Flights from and to the East go over the Sinai and yes it adds 30-45 minutes extra time of bulls**t sitting in a sardine can.
It’s not pleasant for a person that flies once a week to the Gulf and back.
You can track flights on the below, click on any aircraft next to Lebanon and you can see their flight path.
http://www.flightradar24.com/
You will notice that all airlines flying to/from Beirut towards the Gulf avoid Syrian airspace (except MEA). They either fly over Turkey then Iraq or Egypt then Saudi.I, for one, would rather not take the chance as a few close encounters have been reported especially the Russian commercial jet in the news earlier in the week.
You’re right just checked. Last I flew to Lebanon was maybe 2 months back and it was over Syria.
You will feel the difference on ur next trip less than 3 weeks from now 😛
Is it legal to check this site?
It reveals a lot of flight details all over the world !
I took an MEA flight to Dammam on Monday and it flew over Syria. All MEA flights going to the GCC fly over Syria.
Emirates, Qatar Airways, Saudi Airlines, Etihad, Fly Dubai, NAS air etc. all stopped flying over Syria a while ago.
Sorry; but if people are aware of this then they are taking all the risks. It is incumbent on the consumer to do his/her due diligence.
some people don’t notice that they will fly MEA in case they are buying a code share flight from another carrier. it happened to me, that my ticket was initially purchased by my secretary on Etihad Airways, and I only checked the details of the flight numbers after the ticket was purchased, and I used the first leg.
The other airline may put pressure on MEA to stop flying the current path
Maybe MBA is trying to save fuel costs by flying over Syria instead of taking the safer approach? I wouldn’t be surprised, it is not beyond a Lebanese company. Why risk it though? Surely you would think by now people would have demanded for them to change this.
you are right, this is what I heard too, but no one confirmed this yet
I just came back from Oman a few hours ago. Air Oman flights also still fly above Syria.
Well it is still much safer than flying over the Israeli occupied territory as the Jordanian airlines are doing
Almsot, all flights going from GCC to any country other than Lebanon are flying over Syria. However, they choose another path when heading to Beirut, probably because they have to descend and this may be risky.
Should we all send MEA emails to ask them about this?
If they are using a risky path, the passengers have the right to know.
I am taking 6 mea flight in the coming two weeks.. all flying over syria… I m seriously thinking of changing the airline.. screw the price and the frequent flyer programs.. safety comes first
I happen to book my flight on Etihad Airways, then noticed that the flight from Beirut was a code share with MEA, and I had no choice then to fly the MEA.
I am writing to Etihad to complain about this issue
I am scheduled to fly today over Syria on MEA. I have been flying over syria for the last 4 years, almost every week. I feel scared now.