Trump's move to restore direct Lebanon flights raises diaspora hopes Submitted by Adam Chamseddine on Sun, 07/26/2026 - 14:10 After Lebanese president’s White House visit aviation officials say route reopening is still months away A Middle East Airlines plane prepares to take off from Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport, 11 April 2014 (Patrick Baz/AFP) Off For more than four decades, direct flights between the United States and Lebanon remained suspended, a legacy of the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the killing of a US Navy diver during the subsequent 17-day hostage crisis. The ban outlasted Lebanon’s civil war, repeated attempts at political normalisation and the large-scale growth of Lebanese communities across North America. Following Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s visit to the White House this week, US President Donald Trump announced that he was directing his administration to allow American carriers to resume direct flights to Lebanon for the first time since the Reagan administration suspended the route.
“After meeting with the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, who has done a remarkable job working to transform his Country, I am hereby directing my Administration to allow all U.S. airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily visit this beautiful land,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, signing off with: “Enjoy!” (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy responded to the post by saying: “You got it, Mr. President.” The announcement was one of the most tangible outcomes of Aoun’s Washington visit, which Lebanese officials had framed as an effort to secure visible US support at a critical moment for the country.
Aoun’s trip came as Lebanon seeks American backing for a US-brokered framework with Israel, while also trying to present diplomatic engagement with Washington as capable of producing concrete gains for the Lebanese state. But aviation officials caution that Trump’s announcement, while politically significant, does not mean direct flights will resume immediately. Steps ahead Captain Mohammad Aziz, director general of Lebanon’s Civil Aviation Authority, told Middle East Eye that Lebanon will first need to determine whether such routes are commercially and technically viable.
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