Qlayaat Airport back to the Fore amid Security Disarray
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12 Aug 201320:18 PM
Qlayaat Airport back to the Fore amid Security Disarray

Following the abduction of two Turkish pilots and amid repeated threats to obstruct aviation at the Beirut airport, security disarray has come under the spotlight as the road leading to the country's sole "aerial gate" has become an "obtainable" hostage.

 

The unstable and vulnerable security situation has brought the reactivation of the Qlayaat airport, located in the northern district of Akkar, back to the fore.

 

It is worth noting that the kidnapping of the two pilots has raised fears that international airlines may boycott the Beirut International Airport in a show of solidarity with the Turkey which is a member-state of NATO and has an observer status at the European Parliament. Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), association of international pilots, and union of Middle East Airlines pilots will soon take a position over the abduction of the Turkish pilots.

 

MTV news team checked out the Qlayaat airport which is currently occupied by the Lebanese Army.

 

Located in Akkar at a respectively 25 and 105-kilometer distance away from Tripoli and Beirut, the airport stretches over a space that is equal to 5.5 million sqm and is considered, according to experts, less vulnerable to storms and atmospheric changes than Beirut airport.

 

As we managed to walk along the airport's external border strip riddled with barbed wires, crossing a two-kilometer distance, we were able to perceive the air traffic control centers, warehouses and hangars dedicated for aircraft maintenance checks.

 

The Qlayaat airport's 3200 meter-long runway is deemed to be expanded to reach a length distance that could be equal to 4000 meters.

 

Based on a study conducted by the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL), the national investment promotion agency, the renovation process of the Qlayaat airport would cost $90 million, including a first-phase cost of $45 million to overhaul the runways, facilities and equipment.

 

It is to note that caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati had tasked Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi with preparing a feasibility study on the possibility of operating the Qlayaat airport, known also as the Rene Mouawad airport. But will this issue be doomed to be forever suppressed?