Lebanon has barred the largest airline in Cyprus, TUS Airways, from flying in the Arab country’s airspace or landing at Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport, due to the fact that an Israeli corporation owns nearly half of the shares in the company.
In a statement published by the state-run National News Agency on Saturday, the Director General of the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority, Fadi al-Hassan, said the Israeli company Knafaim Holdings Ltd. owns 49.9% of the stock of the Cypriot airline.
TUS Airways was formed in 2015, shortly after the liquidation of Cyprus Airways and despite only owning five Airbus A320 aircraft, the carrier is officially the largest airline in Cyprus.
Although the airline is based out of its Larnaca hub , TUS Airways has a strong focus on flights to and from Israel, apparently due to its share holder connection.
Lebanon only became aware that TUS Airways had a major Israeli backer after the Cypriot Civil Aviation Authority informed its Lebanese counterpart that the airline had been nominated to provide air services between the two countries under a 2017 bilateral agreement.
Al-Hassan said that his department carried out some routine research on the internet and discovered that TUS Air was partly owned by an Israel-based company which put it in conflict with the Boycott Israel Law.
Al-Hassan had already received a letter from the Cypriot Civil Aviation Authority announcing the appointment of TUS Airways as the carrier in air transport services between Cyprus and Lebanon based on a bilateral agreement signed in 2017.
The Lebanese official noted that the ban on the Cypriot airline will remain in effect until further notice, and that the decision to close Lebanese airspace to the Cypriot airline was taken within the framework of the Boycott of Israel Law.
The Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority had also referred the matter to the General Directorate of Economy and Commerce to verify the status of the company, especially as the directorate had requested not to deal with companies of a similar status, the latest of which were the two Ukrainian companies Aerosvit Ukrainian Airlines and the Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA).
TUS Airways came to limelight , when it operated the very first commercial flight between Israel and Qatar to carry football fans to the FIFA World Cup in Doha.
Route cause of these steps began in 1951, when the Arab League called on member states to prohibit all kinds of political, economic, commercial and cultural relations with Israel. The approved law is very strict and punishes any contact, even individually, between Lebanese and Israeli citizens.
Noteworthy is , Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war for decades although the last major conflict was the 33-day-long Israeli military onslaught on the country in the summer of 2006.
Last month, Lebanon had said that Israeli aircraft violated Lebanese airspace, continuing the violation of national sovereignty and UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
