BEIRUT: Air traffic controllers at Lebanon’s only civilian airport announced on Thursday they would go on strike next month over severe staffing shortages, partially closing the Beirut hub.
The announcement by the team of 13 air traffic controllers at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport follows a report last week by the European Union’s aviation safety watchdog that raised concerns after inspecting the airport, just south of the Lebanese capital.
The airport is supposed to have a staff of 87 air traffic controllers, the controllers said.
Lebanon’s has been in the grip of a devastating economic crisis since late 2019 after decades of corruption and mismanagement. Public sector and state institutions have steadily deteriorated as the cash-strapped government struggles to provide adequate funding.
The Beirut airport has faced power cuts and equipment shortages for months during the busy tourism season. Over 4 million people flew into Lebanon since the beginning of the year.
The strike would begin Sept. 5 and the controllers would not work overnight, between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency and International Civil Aviation Organization said in a report carried by Lebanese media last week that its inspection of Beirut’s airport earlier this summer detailed multiple safety concerns, including a severe shortage of air traffic controllers.
The controllers said in their statement that the government has ignored their repeated proposals to resolve the issue, including bringing in experts from abroad to help, and dismissed their safety concerns. They said that they work roughly 300 hours a month, and “most of us are above 50 years old.”
Government officials have not responded to the announcement. The country’s General Directorate of Civil Aviation last week said that the airport staff shortage is part of a global issue impacted by the coronavirus pandemic restrictions. It said authorities were training new staff with ICAO’s support.
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Air traffic controllers at Lebanon’s only civilian airport to go on strike over staffing shortages
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Air traffic controllers at Lebanon’s only civilian airport to go on strike over staffing shortages
- The airport is supposed to have a staff of 87 air traffic controllers
- The Beirut airport has faced power cuts and equipment shortages for months during the busy tourism season
Syrian leader to meet Putin, Russia seeks deal on military bases
MOSCOW: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, as the Kremlin seeks to secure the future of its military bases in the country.
Putin and Sharaa struck a conciliatory tone at their previous meeting in October, their first since Sharaa’s rebel forces toppled Moscow-ally Bashar Assad in 2024.
But Russia’s continued sheltering of Assad and his wife since their ouster remains a thorny issue. Sharaa has repeatedly pushed Russia for their extradition.
Sharaa, meanwhile, has embraced US President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday praised the Syrian leader as “highly respected” and said things were “working out very well.”
Putin, whose influence in the Middle East has waned since Assad’s ouster, is seeking to maintain Russia’s military footprint in the region.
Russia withdrew its forces from the Qamishli airport in Kurdish-held northeast Syria earlier this week, leaving it with only the Hmeimim air base and Tartus naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast — its only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union.
“A discussion is planned on the status of bilateral relations and prospects for developing them in various fields, as well as the current situation in the Middle East,” the Kremlin said of the upcoming meeting in a statement on Tuesday.
Russia was a key ally of Assad during the bloody 14-year Syrian civil war, launching air strikes on rebel-held areas of Syria controlled by Sharaa’s Islamist forces.
The toppling of Assad dealt a major blow to Russia’s influence in the region and laid bare the limits of Moscow’s military reach amid the Ukraine war.
The United States, which cheered Assad’s demise, has fostered ever-warmer ties with Sharaa — even as Damascus launched a recent offensive against Kurdish forces long backed by the West.
Despite Trump’s public praise, both the United States and Europe have expressed concern that the offensive in Syria’s northeast could precipitate the return of Islamic State forces held in Kurdish-held jails.
Putin and Sharaa struck a conciliatory tone at their previous meeting in October, their first since Sharaa’s rebel forces toppled Moscow-ally Bashar Assad in 2024.
But Russia’s continued sheltering of Assad and his wife since their ouster remains a thorny issue. Sharaa has repeatedly pushed Russia for their extradition.
Sharaa, meanwhile, has embraced US President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday praised the Syrian leader as “highly respected” and said things were “working out very well.”
Putin, whose influence in the Middle East has waned since Assad’s ouster, is seeking to maintain Russia’s military footprint in the region.
Russia withdrew its forces from the Qamishli airport in Kurdish-held northeast Syria earlier this week, leaving it with only the Hmeimim air base and Tartus naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast — its only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union.
“A discussion is planned on the status of bilateral relations and prospects for developing them in various fields, as well as the current situation in the Middle East,” the Kremlin said of the upcoming meeting in a statement on Tuesday.
Russia was a key ally of Assad during the bloody 14-year Syrian civil war, launching air strikes on rebel-held areas of Syria controlled by Sharaa’s Islamist forces.
The toppling of Assad dealt a major blow to Russia’s influence in the region and laid bare the limits of Moscow’s military reach amid the Ukraine war.
The United States, which cheered Assad’s demise, has fostered ever-warmer ties with Sharaa — even as Damascus launched a recent offensive against Kurdish forces long backed by the West.
Despite Trump’s public praise, both the United States and Europe have expressed concern that the offensive in Syria’s northeast could precipitate the return of Islamic State forces held in Kurdish-held jails.
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