Nawaf Salam Reopens Rene Mouawad Airport in Qlayaat, Lebanon, for International Flights

On June 6, Lebanon’s second airport received a flight carrying Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, marking the reopening of the Rene Mouawad Airport in the northern Lebanese town of Qlayaat, officials said.

“Beirut, Lebanon – On June 6, Lebanon’s second airport received a flight carrying a number of officials, including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam”

Al Jazeera

Mazen Sammak, president of the Private Pilot Association of Lebanon, told Al Jazeera, "The opening flight was a ceremonial flight, and it’s a milestone for sure," while adding, "But the challenge lies in the next phases because [turning] a ceremony to reality has many challenges."

Al Jazeera

The airport is intended to become a second hub for Lebanon’s international travel, with prospective flights to Dubai, Istanbul, and a second location in Turkiye, Al Jazeera reported via News.Az.

The ceremony and reopening track were described as a rehabilitation and restart program, with the Lebanese Army taking security measures at the airport gate to admit official invitees into the airport premises where a red carpet was rolled out.

In Akkar, the airport sits on more than 5 million square meters in the jurisdiction of the town of Al-Qulayāt, a few hundred meters from the Mediterranean coast and about 6 kilometers from the Arida border crossing with Syria, according to the ceremony coverage.

In Ici Beyrouth’s account, the reopening of Kleiate-René Moawad Airport ran into Hezbollah’s veto, which the article says refuses to allow a strategic public facility to escape its control.

The same report says the airport had served as a domestic terminal for MEA’s fleet between 1988 and 1990, when its use was motivated by insecurity and frequent closures of the road linking Beirut to the North during the 1975 war.

Al-Nahar

Sajih Attiyé, president of the Parliamentary Public Works and Transportation Commission, and Mazen Sammak said Kleiate-René Moawad Airport could host commercial flights in case of emergency without heavy work in the immediate term.

Economist Mohamad Chamseddine said the 3,000-meter runway is suitable for limited air traffic and that modest investments would suffice to repair cracks and clear the runway, while regular operation would require a second runway.

Ici Beyrouth estimated the total cost of the Kleiate-René Moawad airport rehabilitation project at about $200 million, financed under the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) model, with implementation expected to span three years.

Al Jazeera described the June 6 reopening as a potential economic boost for northern Lebanon, where the airport is hoped to serve as a second hub after years of reliance on Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport.

The article said Israel’s attacks have delayed the airport’s original plan to receive passengers around midyear, noting that since March 2, Israel has killed 3,826 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1.2 million.

Mazen Sammak told Al Jazeera that the airport is still in the rehabilitation phase, which he said should take around three months, and he added, "You don’t even have a bathroom there right now."

Al Jazeera also reported that three destinations have been confirmed to land at Qlayaat: Istanbul, Dubai, and Mersin in Turkiye, and that within three months or so the airport could serve smaller planes and low-cost airlines.

In the same coverage, Sammak dismissed fears that the government’s actions were tied to Israel’s attacks, saying, "I think that Israel will not wait for the Lebanese government to operate another airport [so that it can] hit Beirut International Airport," and framed the project as an economic catalyst and contingency.