USAupdated 2h ago2 min read
Joseph Aoun Welcomes Trump’s Lift of 41-Year U.S.-Lebanon Flight Restrictions
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Direct flights between Lebanon and the United States resume after decades-long ban. President Aoun welcomed Trump's decision and credited measures to ensure civil aviation safety.
A 41-year ban lifted
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to lift restrictions on air transport between Lebanon and the United States, saying the step followed Aoun’s request during a meeting at the White House in July.
Aoun said Trump instructed U.S. officials to restore air traffic between the two countries and issued an immediate statement calling on American airlines to resume flights to Beirut.
The Anadolu Ajansı report said direct flights between the two countries had been suspended since 1985, after a TWA aircraft was hijacked and forced to land in Beirut amid security concerns during the Lebanese Civil War.
The CNN Arabic report said Presidential Proclamation No. 2026-25, signed by Trump on September 30 last year and published in the U.S. Federal Register on October 5 this year, repealed four prior proclamations issued between 1985 and 2007 on security concerns related to aviation safety.
What the proclamation does
CNN Arabic said Trump concluded that the earlier proclamations were no longer necessary to ensure the safety of aircraft operating from Lebanon and to Lebanon in the face of risks of unlawful seizure.
CNN Arabic said the proclamation ordered the four proclamations to be repealed in full, with directing the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to implement this action immediately.
The Anadolu Ajansı report said Trump repealed four presidential decrees issued between 1985 and 2007, which imposed restrictions on air transport with Lebanon for security reasons.
The صـوت الإمارات report said the presidential memorandum signed on September 30 and published in the U.S. Federal Register showed restrictions imposed under presidential decrees dating from 1985, 1992, 1998, and 2007 were “no longer necessary to ensure the safety of aircraft operating flights from Lebanon to the United States and to protect them from unlawful seizure.”
Next steps and uncertainty
The Lebanese embassy in Washington welcomed Trump’s decision, and CNN Arabic said the embassy described it as a continuation of Trump’s announcement after his meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House on July 21 last year.
CNN Arabic said the decision took effect immediately upon issuance but did not specify a date for launching direct flights between the Lebanon and the United States.
The Anadolu Ajansı report said Aoun thanked U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his close follow-up on the issue and said Lebanon attached the highest priority to civil aviation safety and the security of Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport.
The صـوت الإمارات report said Beirut and Washington still needed to complete regulatory, security, and detailed operational arrangements, and it said the exact tentative date for the first direct flight had not yet been officially determined.