Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines – Airliban (MEA) is purchasing a Legacy 500 jet from Embraer, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer said last Monday (19th). Their agreement also includes an option of purchase of another unit of the same make. The first Legacy 500 will be delivered in Q4 this year, between October and December.
MEA is based in Beirut, Lebanon and will allocate the Embraer aircraft to chartered flights from Rafik Hariri International Airport. The Lebanese airline is new to this type of operation, Embraer said.
“The Legacy 500 will surely please passengers and pilots alike, and deliver the efficient performance and low operating costs required for successful charter operations,” said Embraer Executive Jets president and CEO Marco Túlio Pellegrini in a statement from the corporation’s press relations office.
In the same statement, MEA chairman and CEO Mohamad A. El-Hout lauds the aircraft’s performance. “This aircraft’s onboard resources and amenities make it ideally suited to chartering, considering our market and our clients,” he said, adding that the unit may be flown direct from Beirut to London, for example.
The Legacy 500 business jet features passenger cabin height of 182 cm and eight seats that convert into four beds. The unit’s maximum altitude is 45,000 feet and boasts two Honeywell HTF7500E engines, the most eco-efficient in their category.
MEA flies to 30 international destinations in Europe, the Middle East and West Africa. Since 2003, the airline has been renewing its fleet. Presently, it flies four Airbus A330-200, two Airbus A321 and eleven A320.
