MIDDLE EAST AIRLINES-VICKERS VISCOUNT OPERATIONS

MEA VICKERS VISCOUNT OPERATIONS
1955-1969 

 An excellent introduction on MEA's history can be found at this link 

MEA in the early fifties 

MEA VICKERS VISCOUNT OD-ACF .Copyright Ed Coates

From the Lebanese Jumble club face book page MEA ad in french

Air Liban, the main competitor of MEA had already acquired the DC4 and contemplating the acquisition of the DC6 and had already put the DC4 on its very lucrative African route . MEA could not remain indifferent to this threat and needed a state-of-the-art aircraft to remain competitive and the Vickers Viscount was the perfect answer. An order of 7 Vickers Viscount was placed in June 1955 and pending the delivery of its aircraft (starting in September 1957) M.E.A leased 3 from Hunting-Air Clan (G-ANRR,G-ANRS,G-ANRT).The leased viscounts took Lebanese registration (see table).
It was a very nice day this Friday November 25, 1955. A beautiful autumn day cool but not cold, people were gathered at the terrace of Beirut International Airport, the newly built state-of-the-art airport which had been recently opened in April 1954. The reason of this gathering: the inaugural flight of MEA Vickers Viscount carrying its first load of passengers to Rome via Athens. The inaugural timetable dated November 1, 1955 but with effective date December 1, 1955 lists the flights operated by MEA’s Viscount.

MEA 1955 TIMETABLE  fm www.timetableimages.com/Bjorn Larsson collection

1 year later the OAG dated October 1956 shows a spectacular increase in the operations of the Vickers Viscount from 9 weekly flights in 1955 to 19 in 1956 with new destinations Vienna, Zurich, Paris, London, Jeddah, and Tehran.On June 18, 1956  MEA Vickers Viscount OD-ACG  inaugurated  the service to London via Rome .

2 years after the introduction of the Vickers Viscount , from the timetable dated October 7, 1957 Nicosia, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Doha and Kuwait joins the cities served by the Vickers Viscount, the DC3s are relegated to routes to Aleppo, Kuwait, and Jerusalem . Sadly, Paris is no longer served (the rights went to Air Liban) 24 flights are carried out of Beirut each week versus 19 in 1956. MEA transports 57000 passengers in 1957.

From the Lebanese Jumble Club Face Book page MEA ad published in Greece

MEA 1957 VICKERS VISCOUNT NETWORK MAP

Superb Aeroclassic model 1/400 of MEA Vickers Viscount 754D delivered in Sept 1957

The OAG timetable of April 1958 will see a further expansion of the company with Karachi, Bombay Aden, Brussels, and Geneva as new destinations.
The events of summer 1958 and the general instability of the region will affect negatively the operations of the company and the winter timetable 1958/59 reflects the consolidation of the network: Brussels and Zurich are no longer served but Damascus makes its entry as a stop on the segment Beirut-Bahrain-Doha. 




MEA  April 1958 TIMETABLE  fm www.timetableimages.com/Bjorn Larsson collection

From the Lebanese Jumble Club Face Book page MEA ad circa 1958



MEA 1958 VICKERS VISCOUNT NETWORK MAP

The summer 1960 timetable,just before the delivery of MEA first jet the Comet 4C, shows the full extent of the Vickers Viscount operations of the company. The subsequent winter 1960/61 timetable heralds the decline of the Vickers Viscount operations.

MEA 1960 SUMMER  TIMETABLE  fm www.timetableimages.com/Bjorn Larsson collection-1960 visckers viscount  network map

Superb Aeroclassic model 1/400 of MEA Vickers Viscount 754D delivered in Sept 1957

With the steady deliveries of the Comet 4C, MEA will retire its Vickers Viscounts from its main line and will operate thinner local and regional flights .the September 1962 timetable



MEA  SEPTEMBER 62 TIMETABLE  fm www.timetableimages.com/Bjorn Larsson collection

shows the decreasing role of the aircraft in MEA’s global operations. June 1963 timetable and the pending merger with Air Liban with its fleet of Caravelle will further restrict the operations of the Vickers Viscount as shown in the table below.

The erosion continues as evidenced by the timetable dated April 1 , 1964 with a daily flight to Nicosia, a twice daily flight to Jerusalem and a twice weekly flight to Ankara.



MEA  APRIL 1964  TIMETABLE  fm www.timetableimages.com/Bjorn Larsson collection

MEA VICKERS VISCOUNT OD-ACT series 754D delivered to company on July 17, 1957 and destroyed by the raid on the Beirut International Airport in December 1968



The winter 1966/67 timetable shows flights to Nicosia, Jerusalem (the airport was too small to allow for jet operations), Damascus and Aleppo. The April 1967 Timetable shows only 9 flights a week operated by the Vickers Viscount : a daily Flight to Damascus and a twice weekly flight to Aleppo. The 6-day war in June 1967 and the general downturn of traffic experienced by the airlines in the region will prompt MEA to increase the utilization of its remaining Vickers Viscounts with the resumption of flights to Nicosia (5 x w), Ankara (2 x w) and Amman (2 x w)  as evidenced by the timetable dated August 1967  .
The daily Beirut-Nicosia route will be the last segment operated by the Vickers Viscount in MEA’s July 1969 timetable before switching to an all jet operations B707, Comet4C and Convair 990 in the 1970 summer timetable of the company. 



MEA JULY 1969 TIMETABLE  fm www.timetableimages.com/Bjorn Larsson collection

LIST OF VICKERS VISCOUNT OPERATED BY MEA

MISHAPS

During its 14 years of operations, The Vickers Viscount proofed to be a reliable and safe airliner. MEA lost 3 frames , One of which resulted in a heavy toll , the other 2 were beyond the company's control

1st accident February 1, 1963. ME 265 (OD-ADE) operating Beirut-Nicosia-Ankara, took off from Nicosia airport for its final leg to Ankara Airport with 14 souls on board. The aircraft will never arrive at destinations as it collided with a Turkish Air Force  DC3 while on approach to Ankara. The fuselage on the right side of the aircraft was torn ripped open and the aircraft crashed into a residential area in Ankara claiming the life of 87 persons on the ground. It was one of the deadliest aircraft crashes in 1963.

2nd accident -April 21, 1964 . ME OD-ACX was damaged beyond repair at El Arish Airport when the taxiway collapsed with no loss of life

3rd accident - December 28, 1968. ME OD-ACT will be destroyed after the coward attack of the Israeli army on Beirut International Airport the night of December 28, 1968 with no loss of life.

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz. 

List of airport codes used in this post

More on Lebanese Commercial aviation can be found at
T.M.A BOEING 707
AIR LIBAN in 1955
Lebanese International Airways