News

Lebanon Sets 2027 Launch Date For Low-Cost “Fly Beirut” Airline

New carrier and airport projects mark a rare attempt to reset Lebanon’s strained aviation network.

Published

4 weeks ago

November 12, 2025

lebanon sets 2027 launch date for low-cost fly beirut airline

Lebanon has outlined its most ambitious aviation push in years, confirming plans to roll out a low-cost airline, expand Beirut’s main airport, and reopen a long-idle airfield in the north.

The announcement came during the Middle East Airlines (MEA) 80th-anniversary event at Rafic Hariri International Airport. MEA chairman Mohammad Hout said the budget carrier, Fly Beirut, is slated to begin operations in early 2027. The airline will sit under MEA, breaking no monopolies but promising cheaper fares — a long-running grievance for Lebanese expatriates facing steep ticket prices.

Hout said MEA will add six aircraft to its fleet next year and move to restore Beirut’s role as a maintenance hub for foreign airlines. “Plans have been drawn up for the company’s future, starting with restoring Beirut’s role as a maintenance hub for foreign airlines, which will require new facilities,” he told officials, including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

The carrier’s continued operations during last year’s Israeli strikes, with flights taking off as explosions hit nearby suburbs, intensified calls for a clearer long-term strategy as regional rivals scale up.

Public Works and Transport Minister Fayez Rasamny used the ceremony to set out phased airport works running from 2025 through 2030 and beyond. He said a Fast Track lane is nearing launch to ease passenger movement and expects upgrades to raise capacity by roughly two million travelers a year. “We are not just renovating an airport; we are creating a new travel experience to and from Lebanon,” he said.

Beirut’s airport has struggled with chronic queues and overcrowding, worsened after a 2023 corruption scandal forced the cancellation of a planned Terminal 2. Officials now aim to lift annual passenger capacity to 16 million within the decade, then push toward 20 million.

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The second part of the overhaul targets the Rene Mouawad Airport in Qleiaat, a former civilian airfield turned military base in the Akkar district. Rasamny said reopening the site would connect northern Lebanon to international routes and support development in one of the country’s poorest regions. An Expression of Interest has drawn more than two dozen proposals from local and foreign companies.

The government expects to award the project early next year. If works proceed, Lebanon could operate two civilian airports for the first time in decades — a shift that may ease pressure on Beirut and give Fly Beirut room to scale once it takes off.

News

Noon And Yango Switch On Robot Deliveries In Dubai

The rollout folds autonomous couriers into noon’s rapid-delivery network as the UAE tests everyday autonomy.

Published

14 hours ago

December 10, 2025

Nour Nasir

noon and yango switch on robot deliveries in dubai

Noon and Yango Group have signed an agreement to put autonomous robot deliveries into commercial use in Dubai, turning Yango’s earlier pilots into a daily service for noon Minutes orders. The launch in Sobha Hartland is the first full integration of Yango Autonomy’s electric robots with a major e-commerce network in the region, with wider deployment planned across Dubai and, later, other GCC markets.

Residents can choose a robot at checkout, track it in the app and unlock its compartment once it arrives. The hardware runs on Yango’s AI navigation and routing stack, which plans paths, avoids obstacles and yields to pedestrians. The units had already covered more than 1,500 kilometers during previous Dubai pilots, a test bed that demonstrated their ability to operate in mixed pedestrian environments and dense residential streets.

The rollout adds a contactless option to noon’s last-mile network and is positioned as extra capacity during peak periods. “Partnering with Yango Group lets us bring a future-ready delivery option straight to our customers,” said Ali Kafil-Hussain, noon’s Chief Business Officer. Noon has used Minutes to set rapid-delivery expectations in UAE cities; autonomous units now slot into that same high-frequency model.

Regulatory clearance from Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority underpins the move. The RTA authorized Yango’s robots to operate on public walkways and in neighborhoods, smoothing the shift from controlled trials to commercial work. Dubai has framed autonomous mobility as part of its smart-city buildout, and the partners lean on that agenda to accelerate integration.

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For Yango, the partnership is an anchor for its autonomy platform in the Gulf. Islam Abdul Karim, Yango’s Middle East regional head, said the aim is to make autonomous delivery an “everyday, reliable service” for UAE communities. The company views operational data from early districts as the basis for scaling into more communities and, eventually, cross-border rollouts.

The move lands as Gulf retailers search for faster fulfilment and lower-emission logistics. Autonomous couriers remain a small share of last-mile delivery, but Dubai’s approvals and early usage data give the partners a clearer path to turn pilots into durable infrastructure.