Beirut International Airport activity was heavily paralyzed during the month of March as a result of the recent war which led to widespread infrastructure destruction and a high number of casualties and fatalities. Consequently, and as major airline companies suspended their flight to Beirut due to regional security tensions, the number of passengers fell by 66.05% in March 2026 to 139,190 (lowest level since June 2020, i.e. the COVID era), from 410,019 in February and came in 65.47% lower year-on-year when compared to March 2025’s reading of 403,128. The ratio of departing to arriving passengers attained 1.84x in March 2026 (as the war resulted in limited arrivals to the country despite the Easter and Fitr Holidays) compared to 0.76x in February, 1.30x in January, and 0.76x in December. More specifically, the number of arriving travelers via the BIA decreased by 76.62% m-o-m and by 26.93% on an annual basis to 495.59K in Q1-2026, with the number of departing travelers falling by 54.95% m-o-m while increasing by 3.87% y-o-y to 598.59K. The number of transit travelers fell by 98.19% m-o-m while improving by 812.78% y-o-y to 1,214 when compared to the 133 figure a year earlier. As to the number of flights, the latter saw a monthly decrease of 62.31% and an annual drop of 3.29% in the first quarter of the current year to 10,064. It is worth highlighting in this context that the share of Middle East Airlines (MEA) dropped from 52.99% of the total number of flights in Q1-2025 2025 to 47.70% in Q1-2026, yet skyrocketed to 86.26% during the month of March alone (vs 42.51% in February) as the national airliner was one of the few carriers that continued to offer flights in and out of Lebanon during the war. This is further sketched in the section below: