Middle East Airlines: new strategy to cut losses
Lebanon, Business, 3/10/1998

Lebanon's national carrier, Middle East Airlines, announced on Monday a new strategy that it said would save the company some $20 million.

MEA's chairman, Mohammed al-Hout, said the company would cancel flights to eight destinations while increasing other flight connections and discarding unnecessary spending to gradually cut down on the airline's increasing financial losses.

The new strategy would be implemented as of June 1, Hout said at a press conference Monday. The canceled destinations would include Berlin, Brussels, Bucharest, Copenhagen, Bahrain, Kuala Lampur, Accra and Kano.

Meanwhile, the company would focus on finding new markets with more potential, he added.

Weekly flights to several other destinations would be increased.

"By increasing worldwide connections and making good use of resources the company will be saving $20 million," Hout said.

He also announced the dismissal of 11 out of 23 MEA staff members in the United States, in order to save more funds. Other unnecessary staff would also be dismissed in other countries.

While announcing the new strategy, Hout sounded the alarm on MEA's increased losses, saying if things continued the way they were, the company would inevitably go bankrupt.

The fact that the Central Bank owns 99 percent of MEA does not mean that the company is immune to bankruptcy, he said.

He added MEA "will be history" if a cutdown on losses could not be achieved, expressing his hope that the new strategy would solve at least part of the problem.

Previous Stories:
  MEA board members resign   (12/18/1997)
  Lebanon: 438,000 tourists in the last 9 months   (12/6/1997)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search