US President Donald Trump said after his meeting with his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun that he would instruct the government to allow all US airlines to operate direct flights to Lebanon, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
All flights from the US to Lebanon were suspended in 1985 after the hijacking of the US airline "Trans World Airlines" Flight 847 from Athens to Rome. After several days of forced flights between Beirut and Algiers and layovers at airports, the plane finally landed in the Lebanese capital. The attackers held the crew and passengers hostage for 17 days before freeing the last group of them. In the process, the attackers killed an American citizen, a U.S. Navy diver.
Before flights to Lebanon can resume, U.S. authorities will have to conduct a thorough security review of Beirut airport and certify its safety. However, it is not clear whether U.S. airlines will agree to resume flights, Reuters reports.
Major U.S. airlines - "American Airlines", "United Airlines" and "Delta Airlines" - have suspended flights to nearby Tel Aviv, citing security concerns.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it "looks forward to working with airlines and interagency partners to implement the President's directive and support the safe resumption of flights to Lebanon."
The US State Department has currently issued a "Do Not Travel" warning for Lebanon for US citizens, citing tensions in the Middle East. In February, US authorities ordered non-essential staff and their families to leave Lebanon due to safety concerns.
In January, Trump ordered the US Department of Transportation to lift a ban on passenger air travel to Venezuela after US forces captured President Nicolas Maduro in a special operation. Services resumed in late April after a seven-year hiatus with an American Airlines flight from Miami, Florida, to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.