The airport handled 498,077 passengers in June alone, bringing the total number of passengers that have used the facility in the first quarter of the year to 2.4 million passengers.

Last year, for the same period, (Q1-09), two million passengers passed through the airport.

Aircraft movements totaled 5,733 flights for the month, while total freight handled reached a record of 6.4 million kg, figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) showed.

Over a half million tourist, mainly Arab, Jordanians and Gulf citizens, have visited Lebanon in the first five months of the year, promising of a boom in tourism activity this year, as political and security stability persists, the country’s various tourism destinations are attracting visitors from all across the globe.