Lebanon set to open new airport terminal in March 2027

Lebanon launched a project to construct a new terminal at the Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport to accommodate 3.5 million passengers, with a foreign investment of $122 million. 

This project will also provide about 2,500 job opportunities and attract low-cost airlines, charter and seasonal flights, and tourists.   

Caretaker Minister Public Works and Transport, Ali Hamieh, said that this decision comes as an inevitable result aimed at addressing the bottlenecks resulting from the overcrowding in the current passenger terminal after passenger traffic exceeded the operating capacity, for which the existing terminal was designed.  

He added that the financing, design, construction, equipment, occupation, maintenance, and operation of facilities and buildings, and the investment of the new building that is about to announce, will be at an initial cost of 122 million US dollars, fully paid by the private sector.   

Hamieh stated that this would be done through the Lebanese Air Transport (LAT), adding that the completion period of this project is four years, after which the ownership of these facilities will be transferred upon completion to the Register of Built Areas belonging to Civil Aviation.   

In addition, daa International, an Irish company specializing in the management and operation of international and regional airports, will operate passenger terminal 2 as part of the vision based on the need to involve the private sector in the operation of public facilities as a guarantee of increasing productivity.   

He pointed out that this building will be opened in the first quarter of 2027.   

It is worth noting that the current terminal is 25 years old, and no expansion has been undertaken since 1998.