The number of passengers travelling via the Beirut International Airport (BIA) rose by 54.90% y-o-y to 4,831,730 in the first nine months of 2022, up from 3,119,176 passengers in the same period in 2021. This rebound in the number of passengers can be attributed to the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased population vaccination rate around the globe not to mention the historic depreciation of the Lebanese pound against the Dollar which makes Lebanon an attractive destination for tourists and for the Lebanese diaspora. More specifically, the number of arriving travelers rose by 59.80% y-o-y to 2,362,111 and the number of departing travelers increased by 53.60% to 2,447,957 while the number of transit travelers fell by 54.19% to 21,662. The number of flights saw a sharp rebound (37.94% on a yearly basis) to 39,588. It is worth highlighting in this context that the share of Middle East Airlines (MEA) of total flights rose from 37.38% during the first nine months of 2021 to 33.61% by end of September of the current year. This is further sketched in the table below: