DAR launching study of
René Mouawad-KleyatAirport

Air force base to be transformed into civilian use

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced at René Mouawad Airport in Kleyat that an agreement has been made with engineering consultancy firm Dar Al-Handassah – Shair (DAR) to conduct a study for the reactivation of the airport. The study is pro-bono.

Speaking from the site, Salam said that within three months, DAR will deliver an initial master plan to guide the operational launch of the facility, currently an air force base. He stressed the importance of partnerships between the public and private sectors, to enter into many investments, especially in the North, and particularly at the airport. He said: “Yesterday, I chaired a meeting of the ‘High Council for Privatization and PPP’ with a view to reactivating it.”

Fayez Rasamny, Minister of Public Works and Transport, said that a delegation from DAR had recently visited the airport and already provided a preliminary vision for its development. He said that the Kleyat airport offers “real potential to attract investors.”

Rasamny said: “We are moving along two parallel tracks: First, activating the airport, and second, boosting regional development.”

Rasamny said that the idea is to position the airport as a cargo hub, leveraging its proximity to the Port of Tripoli. Plans may also include the creation of a free economic zone and the potential establishment of aircraft maintenance facilities.

The airbase has been used for civilian use for an interim period during the civil war for internal flights when the road between Beirut and the North was unsafe due to roadblocks by militias. Politicians from the North have long advocated rehabilitating the airport and readying it for passengers and cargo.

Several former governments had promised to activate that project. The current government had also pledged to activate the airport in its ministerial statement. It was a condition by some members of Parliament for granting their vote of confidence to the current Cabinet.