UN aviation review finds safety gaps at Beirut airport, delaying US flights

A review by the UN aviation agency ICAO has found serious safety shortcomings at Beirut's main airport that could delay the push to restart direct US–Lebanon flights, Reuters reported, citing the report.

According to the report, the airport lacks valid certification, its firefighting equipment covers single-aisle jets but not the twin-aisle aircraft used on long-haul routes, and it has no emergency plan. It also found Lebanon's aviation regulator has no qualified air-traffic-control inspectors and no fully independent accident-investigation body.

President Donald Trump signed an order lifting the roughly four-decade suspension of direct flights, but the US aviation and transport-security agencies must still complete their own safety reviews. Two senior industry officials told Reuters they expect the findings to delay service.

Lebanon's embassy called the order a first step, and officials say corrective action is under way, though the war has slowed progress. For a state seeking to reconnect with its diaspora, the gaps point to the need for a truly independent civil-aviation authority, a body envisaged in a 2002 law but never set up, according to a separate report.