United States President ,Donald Trump said that he has directed the U.S. government to allow all domestic airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon, first time since 1985.
The directive came after a meeting with Lebanon’s President, Joseph Aoun at White House in Washington, yesterday.
United States flights to Lebanon were suspended in 1985 after the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 from Athens, Greece, en route to Rome, Italy.
The flight was forced to land in Beirut, and during the 17-day ordeal, a U.S. Navy diver was killed.
But U.S. officials will need to conduct an extensive security review of the Beirut airport and certify its safety before flights to Lebanon before it could resume.
The major U.S. airlines; American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, have halted flights to nearby Tel Aviv, citing security concerns.
The FAA said it “looks forward to working with airlines and our interagency partners to implement the President’s directive and support the safe return of flights to Lebanon.”
The U.S. State Department currently has a “Do Not Travel” advisory for Lebanon for Americans, citing high tensions in the Middle East.
In February, the government ordered non-emergency U.S. government employees and family members to leave Lebanon, due to safety risks.
Trump ordered the U.S. Transportation Department to lift a ban on U.S. passenger air service to Venezuela in January after the U.S. captured the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, in a military operation that month.
Service resumed in late April after seven years, with an American Airlines flight from Miami to Caracas.