Ethiopian Airlines aircraft named Tel Aviv causes stir in Lebanon

Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787-9 with registration ET-AXL named Tel Aviv landed in Beirut (BEY, Lebanon), causing tempers to flare. Lebanon has never had diplomatic relations with Israel and regards it as an enemy state. Lebanese citizens are forbidden from contact with Israelis. In its defence, Ethiopian Airlines explained that its aircraft are named after the first city that the aircraft operates to.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Beirut asked Ethiopian Airlines to remove the city’s name from the aircrafts fuselage before departing Beirut as well as to take necessary measures to ensure that there is no logo related to the Israeli enemy entity on the company’s aircraft before landing at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport in future.