Menajet ready for takeoff

Menajet, the new, low-cost Lebanese charter airline, is billing itself as the vanguard of no-frills charter business in Lebanon, a challenge that menajet’s chairman and general manager, Riad Mikaoui is confident the airline will meet, but, he admits, his line of work is not the easiest, given current regulatory restrictions. However the company has solid shareholders and is actively seeking commercial alliances with Europe and the Gulf that have eased any local pressure. The new airline has to operate under the draconian rules imposed on the air travel sector by the government to protect Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines (MEA), which has an exclusivity clause that ensures that no Lebanon-based airline apart from MEA can be registered as anything but a non-scheduled charter airline. The bottom line is that menajet is prohibited from selling, or even advertising, directly to the public. Instead, it can only sell tickets as components of packages