PM Najib Mikati speech - Middle East Airlines celebrating receiving its fifteenth Airbus 320 - Phoenicia hotel - Beirut
Saturday, Jan 21, 2012
Dear Friends,
Ladies & Gentlemen,
I am filled with great pleasure as we meet today to celebrate the acquiring of an additional Airbus 320 MSN 5000 to our national carrier, Middle East Airlines (MEA). This occasion marks a significant milestone for MEA.
Throughout history, our Lebanese flag carrier has shown great courage in maintaining its operations in the face of challenges. Today’s occasion is indeed another chapter in Lebanon's success in overcoming difficulties and looking out to a promising future.
Dear Friends, The experience of the Middle East Airlines all through its inception in 1984 by late PM Saeb Salam, to present, is similar to the Lebanon’s experience; from recession to success; and from loss to profit; from isolation to expansion; from sorrows to joy.
I salute the person behind this achievement to my dear friend, Riad Salameh, the Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon. Through the success of MEA he realized a role model for the Government to reform the status of its national institutions that will compete with other leading and successful companies, applying criteria that exceed self-sufficiency to recognize profit growth in spite of the security, financial and economic crisis.
Here, I would like to salute my dear friend, the Chairman of MEA, Mohamad El Hout, who was trustworthy of the confidence the Republic granted to him, which inspired him together with his board of directors, to follow the steps of his fore-colleagues in safe-keeping the national value of MEA, namely, Najib Alameddine and his successors. The organizational restructuring of MEA in 1998 allowed MEA to reform its financial status and become a profitable company and one the leading carriers in the civil aviation industry.
Dear Friends, MEA’s journey is a journey of struggle that won the trust of its passengers through the professional services it provided and which resulted in the increase of its passenger’s number to two million passengers. This proves that MEA is committed to raise Lebanon’s name high.
I take this opportunity to highlight the partnership between MEA and Airbus represented today by its CEO AND President, Mr. Tom Enders, who I thank for his continued efforts to ensure collaboration that benefits both parties and reflects the historically routed Lebanese European bilateral relations.
Dear Friends, MEA’s success is the result of the efforts of its staff in all positions, which I salute today and guarantee them, that the Government will support their rights in order for MEA to continue progressing. Success is a responsibility that should be guarded. MEA’s reform experience should be regarded as a role model for other socio-economic and financial institutions to become effective and successful. MEA’s success lesson can be summarized in two words: right decision and effective management.
We are hopeful that those in responsible positions will take MEA’s successful experience into consideration and remove all obstacles that limit the institutional progress in order to serve the aspirations of the Lebanese.
Congratulations to MEA for acquiring the new Airbus 320 MSN 5000 that will along with the rest of the fleet will bridge Lebanon to the world on the basis of openness, harmony and peace.
Long live MEA, long live Lebanon.

