The Client No doubt about it – Middle East Airlines has had a rough time of it over the last 25 years. Two years ago, the trading value of the Lebanese national carrier was, in the succinct summation of chairman Mohammad El-Hout, (as quoted on the Skytrax news website): “Nil.” Then came September 11 and things looked like they might suddenly get a whole lot worse. How much worse? Hout’s stark assessment reflected the reality of an airline that found itself grossly overstaffed, paying too-high leases on its fleet of airplanes and in the beginning stages of trying to eliminate about a third of its 4,000-strong workforce. In a tale that has been documented ad nauseam, in June 2001, the company had warned some 1,450 employees that it had to reduce staff as part of its cost-cutting initiative and that it would declare bankruptcy if they did not accept their
