Middle East Airlines

Middle East Airlines is one of those airlines you only see in central Europe a few times a week – and that is exactly why it pays to watch for the tail with the green cedar. Lebanon’s national airline has been flying since 1945, has survived war, destruction and economic crises, and today operates a small, all-Airbus fleet. Here you’ll learn how to identify MEA with certainty, which types you’ll run into, and what’s going on with the long-awaited A330neos.

The cedar in your hangar

With Planetrack you log every sighting with photo, type, registration, airline and spot – and put missing OD- registrations on your wish list. Planetrack is launching soon – join the waitlist and get early access.

Middle East Airlines at a glance

Middle East Airlines (MEA) is Lebanon’s national airline, based in Beirut right next to the airport. Its full corporate name is Middle East Airlines – Air Liban, and in Arabic the company is called Ṭayyarān ash-Sharq al-Awsaṭ. The majority owner is Lebanon’s central bank, Banque du Liban, which holds practically all the shares.

The business model is that of a classic network airline: through its Beirut hub, MEA connects Lebanon with Europe, the Gulf states, the rest of the Middle East and parts of Africa. A large share of passengers belong to the Lebanese diaspora living in Europe, West Africa and the Gulf. Demand therefore swings sharply with school vacations, holidays and the political situation in the country.

Since 2012, MEA has been a member of SkyTeam. The alliance fits the airline’s history: Lebanon has a long relationship with Air France, and there is also a partnership with Saudia, the region’s first SkyTeam airline.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code ME: appears in the flight number, so on the departure board, on your ticket and in timetables.
• ICAO code MEA: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers – conveniently identical to the abbreviation the airline is known by anyway.
• Callsign CEDAR JET: this is how the crew checks in on the radio, a nod to the cedar in the logo.

For tracker searches, “MEA” is usually enough. How IATA and ICAO codes are built and why they often differ is explained in the article on IATA and ICAO codes. The difference between flight number and callsign is covered in the guide Callsign or flight number?.

History: from the Dragon Rapide to an Airbus fleet

The history of MEA is closely tied to the history of Lebanon – with new beginnings, crises and fresh starts again and again.

The Comet and the Caravelle are exciting for fans of historic types: if you’re interested in the early years, you’ll find more on the de Havilland Comet, the Sud Aviation Caravelle and the Vickers VC10 on their respective type pages.

The fleet: all Airbus

MEA has relied consistently on Airbus since the 1990s. The fleet is small – about two dozen aircraft in summer 2026 – which makes it easy for registration collectors to keep track of.

The A321neo is now the most important type on European services. Alongside it, the classic first-generation A320 still flies. You can tell which variant you’re looking at mainly from the engines: the neo engines are much larger and sit farther forward under the wing. More in the comparison A320neo or ceo?.

On the widebody side, MEA flies the A330-200. It serves routes with lots of passengers, especially during the summer vacation and around the holidays, when many Lebanese fly home from abroad. The manufacturer of all types is Airbus.

The long wait for the A330neo

MEA ordered the four A330-900s back in December 2018. Soon after, a severe economic and banking crisis and the pandemic hit the country, and the airline pushed the deliveries back by years. As of October 2026, MEA announces that the first four new aircraft – A330-900 and A321XLR – arrive from November 2026, with four more following by mid-2027.

For you as a spotter, that means: as of this page, the A330neo in MEA colors is still a rarity, or only just arriving. Once the first aircraft are flying, it’s worth watching for new OD- registrations. You can tell it from the A330-200 by the larger engines and the curved, extended wingtips. The A321XLR will also be new at MEA; visually it looks very similar to the A321neo, but on the tracker it shows up as its own type.

Don’t miss the first MEA A330neo

Put the A330-900 or MEA as an airline on your wish list and get notified when one approaches or lands near you. Planetrack is launching soon – join the waitlist.

How to recognize MEA

The most important feature is the green cedar on the tail. The Lebanese cedar is the country’s national symbol and also appears in the middle of the flag. A tree on the tail is very unusual among airlines in central Europe – so you can pick out MEA from far away, for example when the aircraft shows its tail on final approach.

On the white fuselage you’ll see the abbreviation MEA together with the name in Latin and Arabic script. The registration starts with OD-, Lebanon’s country prefix; most aircraft carry registrations from the OD-M… series. How registrations are built in general is shown in the guide Understanding aircraft registrations.

Special liveries

For its 70th anniversary in 2015, MEA showed an A321 in a retro livery in the historic color scheme. With such a small fleet, designs like this are real strokes of luck. Whether and where a special livery is flying right now changes with retirements and repaints – check current photo databases before you hunt. You’ll find more on the topic in the article on retro liveries. How alliance designs look on SkyTeam airlines is shown in the overview of alliance liveries.

The network: Beirut as a hub

MEA flies almost exclusively to and from Beirut. Important destinations are in Western Europe – such as Paris-Charles de Gaulle, London-Heathrow, Rome, Milan, Geneva, Athens and Frankfurt – as well as in the Gulf, the rest of the Middle East and West Africa, where many Lebanese live. The number of destinations is a good 30, although some routes are served only seasonally.

For long-haul flights to other continents, MEA now relies mainly on partners: through codeshares with Air France, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways and Kuwait Airways, among others, passengers reach more destinations. A nonstop Beirut–New York service of its own is a long-term goal of the airline; there is no firm start date, and according to MEA not before late 2027 at the earliest.

The MEA group also includes several subsidiaries at Beirut airport: for ground handling, maintenance, catering and airport operations. With Cedar Executive, the group also operates business jets of the Embraer Legacy 500 type. For 2027, MEA has also announced its own low-cost brand called Fly Beirut.

Spotting MEA in Germany and Europe

In Germany, Frankfurt is the most reliable place for an MEA sighting; depending on the flight schedule period, Düsseldorf or Berlin were added as well. MEA usually flies only one rotation a day or a few per week to each destination, so you have to plan deliberately. At Frankfurt Airport, the Zeppelinheim viewing platform is a good choice when the landings are in the right direction. An overview of all locations is in the Frankfurt guide. In Düsseldorf, the observation deck is a convenient starting point.

Outside Germany, your chances are especially good at airports with many Lebanon connections. At Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Air France, the most important historical partner, is based, and Paris is one of MEA’s most important European destinations – tips in the Paris CDG guide. London Heathrow, Geneva, Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa are also part of the network.

Because MEA is comparatively rare to see, every sighting makes a good entry in your logbook. You can gauge how rare a type, an airline or a specific registration really is with the guide How rare is my sighting?.

MEA compared with other airlines in the region

In the Middle East there are two kinds of airlines: the big Gulf carriers with huge hubs and long-haul fleets, and the smaller national airlines of the Levant. MEA clearly belongs to the second group. Compared with Emirates or Qatar Airways, its fleet is tiny, but it is uniform and modern.

MEA is best compared with Royal Jordanian: also a national airline, also a single hub, also lots of European flights. The difference lies in alliance and fleet – Royal Jordanian is in oneworld and also flies Boeing 787s and Embraers, while MEA stays with SkyTeam and an all-Airbus fleet. You’ll also meet EgyptAir and Cyprus Airways at similar airports. What role the alliances play is explained in the comparison Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam.

Common mix-ups

• Confusing ME and MEA – ME is the IATA code in the flight number, MEA the ICAO code on the tracker.
• Treating the A320 and A321neo as the same – the neo has a longer fuselage and much larger engines.
• Logging an A330-200 as an A330-900 – the neo has larger engines and curved, longer wingtips. Until delivery, every large MEA aircraft is an A330-200.
• Taking an A321XLR for a regular A321neo – visually very similar, the tracker shows the difference.
• Taking MEA for a Gulf carrier – MEA is a small network airline from Beirut, not a connecting airline with a long-haul fleet.
• Mixing up OD- with other country prefixes – OD- stands for Lebanon; the neighbors Jordan (JY-) and Cyprus (5B-) have their own prefixes.

Keep an eye on MEA

Follow MEA, individual OD- registrations or the A330-900 and get notified on approach or landing – and post your sighting with type, registration and spot. Planetrack is launching soon – join the waitlist and get early access.

Conclusion

Middle East Airlines is a small airline with a big history. Since 1945 it has connected Lebanon with the world, has survived civil war and destruction, and today flies a modern Airbus fleet. For spotters it is a rewarding target thanks to its rare sightings, the distinctive cedar and the manageable number of registrations – and with the expected A330-900s and A321XLRs, new equipment is waiting for your logbook.