Al Bawaba

Lebanon’s Public Works and Transport Minister Youssef
Fenianos signed an agreement Friday with MEA chairman Mohammad al-Hout
to prepare the necessary studies for the expansion of Rafik Hariri
International Airport, said a statement issued by the ministry.
“Fenianos signed an agreement with Hout whereby Middle East Airlines
donated $675,000 to the Public Works Ministry to prepare a study for the
expansion of the airport,” the statement said. Fenianos said MEA
would donate the cost of preparing the needed study to the Public Works
Ministry because the state could not pay the amount due to the deficit
in its budget. Officials have on many occasions called upon the government to expand the airport so it could accommodate more travelers.

“The airport can currently accommodate 5 million passengers while the number of passengers at RHIA surpassed 9 million, which necessitates the implementation of such a strategy,” Fenianos said. “With the implementation of the new strategy we
would be having more space to park our planes in addition to more
stations and more halls to receive visitors,” he said. The statement said that Dar al-Handasah would be implementing the new project. “The
new project will enable the airport to receive a bigger number of
passengers which may go up from 6 million to 12 million in the future
and may even increase to 18 million,” said Riad Mneimneh, director
general of Dar al Handasah.