Lebanese elections cause air traffic surge

The upcoming Lebanese elections are driving air traffic to new highs for this time of the year. And airlines based in the UAE have seen bookings shoot up and are making adjustments to facilitate the additional demand. However, they are not "cashing in on the opportunities". The fares remained unchanged so far, the Gulf News has reported.

Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi's national carrier, has seen a busy time for the past couple of weeks and has strong bookings throughout June, its spokesperson Tom Clarke said.

He said that the surge in traffic to Beirut is not only originating from Abu Dhabi but also from destinations such as Toronto, Canada and Melbourne and Sydney, Australia where large Lebanese populations live.

"We are deploying wide-bodied aircraft instead of the usual narrow-bodied aircraft to Beirut to cater to the increase in demand, due to the elections. For the next three to four weeks flights are very full," he said.

Along similar lines of demand, Emirates said that it has seen an "unusual increase in traffic to Beirut since the third week of May."

Khalid Bel Jaflah, Emirates vice-president of commercial operations in the UAE said: "This is likely due to the upcoming elections in Lebanon and we know many of our customers residing in the UAE are also taking the opportunity to combine this journey with their summer holidays for the family."