"We are surprised by the Turkish authorities' behavior because MEA is not involved in the dispute," MEA chairman Mohammed Hout said Friday after learning that a Turkish court order banned flight ME266, with 124 passengers, from leaving Istanbul.

The government asked Turkey to release the plane, assuring them the German company will get its money soon. Hout said MEA lawyers would file a lawsuit to release the Airbus and seek compensation for this "unjustified act that is costing the airline a lot of money."

"The passengers will fly to Beirut in a leased plane", Hout said. He added "MEA can still fly to all other destinations, including Germany, because a written agreement stipulates airlines should be exempt from financial disputes between two countries. Turkey is not a signatory to this agreement."

"There is an impending legal dispute between CDR and the German construction firm Velter-Bau about an arbitration verdict that instructed the government of Lebanon to pay $7 million in damages for breaching a contract involving the construction of a highway in a northern Lebanon," Hout's statement said.

"MEA is a private company. True, Lebanon's Central Bank holds most of its shares, but there are 2,600 other shareholders. Furthermore, MEA is not involved in the CDR dispute with Velter-Bau, which makes Turkey legally vulnerable for arbitrarily impounding the Airbus." Hout said

CDR said the $7 million have long been posted with Lebanon's Consultative (Shura) Council for Velter-Bau to collect.

The passengers were mad, according to local TV stations that interviewed some of them. They all had to stay overnight in Istanbul to wait for the leased plane that MEA promised to send on Saturday.

Ya Libnan called MEA today ( Sunday ) and got the following update:
The MEA Passengers that were stranded in Istanbul were transferred from Istanbul to Athens on Saturday. They were then picked up from Athens by a regularly scheduled MEA flight and moved to Beirut. The MEA flight arrived to Beirut Saturday at 7: 25 PM. MEA could not confirm how the passengers were transferred from Istanbul to Athens.

The local papers reported that this unjustified action by Turkish authorities could trigger a diplomatic crisis between Lebanon and Turkey.

Update: Sunday 7:30 PM
MEA Chairman Mohammed Hout issued a statement today stating that Middle East Airlines, Lebanon's national carrier, could not find a plane to charter over the weekend to bring to Beirut the 124 stranded passengers of an MEA Airbus seized by Turkish authorities at Istanbul airport, according to An Nahar.
Unfortunately this contradicts the information MEA provided Ya Libnan, when we called around 10 am on Sunday. We were specifically told by the MEA rep that we called that the passengers were transferred from Istanbul to Athens and then were flown into Beirut from Athens on a regularly scheduled MEA flight. Ya Libnan will investigate this matter further (before we comment any further on MEA's credibility) and update this report.

Update: Monday October 17,2005

Ya Libnan contacted MEA. Here is the response we received:

From: Dr. Abilamaa
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 6:16 AM
To: Ya Libnan

Please find below correct information regarding the rerouting of the passengers stranded in Istanbul on Friday 14 October of the MEA aircraft seized by Turkish authorities.

This is to confirm that the passengers stranded in Istanbul of the MEA aircraft seized by Turkish authorities were flown on Turkish Airline regular flights on Saturday from Istanbul to Athens and connected in Athens to a MEA regular flight from Athens to Beirut. All efforts were deployed to lease an airplane from Istanbul to Beirut on Friday and Saturday but no aircraft was available due to the very short notice.

However, MEA did lease a charter aircraft today Monday in order to secure our passengers for today's flight.

Walid Abillama
Head of Marketing and Development
Middle East Airlines

Ya Libnan is very pleased with MEA's prompt response and happy to learn that they took good care of their stranded passengers, in spite of the losses they incurred as a result of the 'unjustified' plane seisure.

Sources: Local TV stations, MEA and Naharnet