{"id":115613,"date":"2026-06-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/?p=115613"},"modified":"2026-06-08T05:44:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T05:44:02","slug":"lebanon-inaugurates-new-airport-as-it-taps-ifc-to-support-private-push-in-aviation-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/06\/08\/lebanon-inaugurates-new-airport-as-it-taps-ifc-to-support-private-push-in-aviation-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon inaugurates new airport as it taps IFC to support private push in aviation sector"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lebanon is turning to private capital to overhaul its aviation \u2014 and has opened a <\/strong>northern airport that doubles as a hedge against war.<\/strong> The government signed the World Bank\u2019s International Finance Corporation (IFC) to structure a public-private partnership (PPP) to rehabilitate, expand, finance, operate and maintain Beirut\u2019s Rafic Hariri International Airport<\/strong>, the IFC\u2019s Khawaja Aftab Ahmed said<\/a> at the signing. <\/p>\n

Days earlier, Lebanon opened a second hub<\/strong> \u2014 the Rene Mouawad Airport at Qlayaat in the north \u2014 where the IFC is also advising and a PPP is similarly on the table.<\/p>\n

Qlayaat is part economic lifeline, part geographic hedge.<\/strong> The north is among Lebanon\u2019s poorest regions \u2014 poverty runs as high as 70%<\/a> in areas like Akkar \u2014 and a working airport is meant to pull in activity and jobs. It also gives the country somewhere to fly if strikes shut Beirut, keeping the sector moving when the main hub can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

IN CONTEXT- The IFC is doing a lot of advisory on airports in MENA+.<\/strong> It\u2019s already working<\/a>with Egypt<\/a> on a plan to offer 11 airports for PPP, and it backed the Baghdad International Airport deal<\/a> awarded last year to a consortium led by Luxembourg\u2019s Corporation America Airports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The IFC is backing similar programs in Egypt and Iraq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2498],"tags":[2667,2538,2551,2614],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-115613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-infrastructure","tag-aviation","tag-enterpriseam","tag-infrastructure","tag-lebanon","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"d8565455-deeb-4f07-8b87-39669bc036ce","order":"8","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/6\/445.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Safe-ish 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