The Trans Mediterranean Airways History Pages



By Wassim Chemaitelli

I- The Beginning: 1953-1965

Trans Mediterranean Airways (TMA) was founded in 1953 by a Lebanese entrepreneur, Mounir Abou Haidar, as an all-cargo airline. M.Abou Haidar used to work for the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO). Until then,  Middle East Airlines (MEA) had serviced ARAMCO's cargo needs for several years. Realizing the immense potential of air cargo in the region, he decided to set up his own air freight company. Air Liban, MEA's fierce competitor, initially supported M. Abou Haidar by allowing him to charter from Skyways 2 Avro-685 Yorks and to use them under the Air Liban banner between 1953 and 1955, while he awaited the approval of TMA's operating license by the Lebanese government. In 1955, M. Abou Haidar was able to obtain the transfer to TMA of the license of Charles and Victor Saad's Air Taxi company. The Saads had gotten that license from the government in the late forties, before the restrictions that limited the number of airlines in Lebanon, but were never able to successfully start operations. With his strong vision and personality, and with the support of several politicians M. Abou Haidar was able to circumvent the legal obstacles that prevented the transfer of that license, and TMA was able to carry out its own independent operations using a fleet of 2 Avro Yorks on July 24th 1956. While continuing to fly charters for ARAMCO, TMA (amidst strong opposition from MEA and, ironically Air Liban) was able to obtain the license for operating scheduled cargo operations in 1959 and to initiate such services to Frankfurt, Baghdad and Teheran using a Douglas DC-4 recently added to the fleet.



TMA's OD-ADV, a Douglas DC-4 seen in Beirut in 1966. Photo: Guido Buhlmann. BUCHairCARD issue. From Daniel Kusrow's Collection.

Scheduled operations quickly expanded to include additional destinations in Africa (Khartoum), Europe (London, Basle), the Middle East, Asia (Kabul, Karachi, Bombay) with a fleet that was enlarged to include as many as 7 DC-4s and 2 Avro-Yorks by 1962. The first DC-6 was introduced in 1963. The airline's safety record was questionnable during these first years of operation; as many as 4 of  its aircraft (1 Avro York and 3 DC4s) were lost in successive crashes between 1961 and 1963. Operations improved as technical assistance became available from Trans World Airways (TWA) between 1964 and 1966, and TMA was able to continue its expansion as shown in Table I (below).  


One of TMA's Douglas DC-6s, seen in Stockholm, August 1966. Copyright Lars Södeström @Airliners.net.

Table I: TMA Data Sheet 1964-1974
Year
 Avro York
 DC4
 DC6
 L-100-2D*
 L-1649A*
 Boeing 707
 Canadair CL-44D*
 Workforce
 Revenue Freight Tons- Miles
 Revenues, million USD
1964
 1
 5
 1
 0
 0
 0
 0
 525
 18,000,000
 5.17
1965
 0
 5
 4
 1
 0
 0
 0
 N/A
 N/A
 N/A
1966
 0
 5
 3
 0
 1
 1
 0
 N/A
 N/A
 N/A
1967
 0
 2
 6
 0
 0
 1
 2
 N/A
 35,000,000
 N/A
1968
 0
 1
 5
 0
 0
 3
 0
 932
 52,361,000
 16,82
1969
 0
 0
 4
 0
 0
 3
 0
 820
 51,216,464
 N/A
1970
 0
 0
 4
 0
 0
 3
 0
 1025
 75,764,000
 N/A
1972
 0
 0
 3
 0
 0
 5
 0
 1529
 106,007,000
 N/A
1973
 0
 0
 3
 0
 0
 7
 0
 1798
 217,309,000
 N/A
1974
 0
 0
 3
 0
 0
 7
 0
 2256
 240,700,000
 N/A
* Aircraft Leased from Other Operators. N/A = data not available.

Canadair CL-44D, N604SA. Coll L.Pinzauti. JJ Postcards.

 III- The Rise of a Round-The-World Major: 1966-1975

Jet service was introduced by TMA in 1966, with the lease-purchase of a Boeing 707-331C and Jeddah was added to the network. That airliner type will become TMA's workhorse for more than 3 decades. Freight carried by TMA doubled between 1964 and 1967 as shown in Table I (above). In July 1967, the Beirut-Bombay sector was extended to Tokyo via Bangkok, Manila, Taipei and Osaka; with precious traffic rights between most sectors. TMA was already operating the longest all-cargo route in the world, from western Europe to Japan. During the night of the 28th to the 29th of December 1968, Israeli commandos attacked by surprise Beirut's International Airport, destroying 14 civilian aircraft, in order to revenge the attack on an El-Al plane perpetrated by by Palestinian activists in Athens and in which an Israeli passenger was killed. During this attack, two TMA aircraft were destroyed by the Israeli commandos, 1 DC-4 and 1 DC-6; but these losses were lower than those of  MEA (a newly acquired Boeing 707-320C, 3 Sud Aviation Caravelles, 3 de Havilland Comets, a leased Vickers VC-10 and a Vickers Viscount) and LIA (2 Convair CV-990A jets and a Douglas DC-7, the airline never recovered from the attack). The miltary operation drew unanimous international condemnation. Undeterred, TMA continued its conquest of the world's air cargo markets. In 1969, new destinations were introduced:  Athens, Istanbul, Milan, Zurich, Paris, Stockholm, Tripoli, Benghazi and Singapore.
 
One of TMA's Boeing 707s seen in New York-JFK, August 1971. Copyright Art Brett@  Airliners.net

 In 1970, a political crisis between Lebanon and Iran led to the suspension of the lucrative Teheran flights. Armed with ambition, determination and excellent relations with the US authorities, dating back to the ARAMCO days, M. Abou Haidar was able to lead TMA a step further by obtaining for the airline the rights for the first all cargo round the world service. These flights(TL 305+306) were started in April 1971 and operated once weekly with the following routing: Beirut-Karachi-Bombay (technical stop) - Bangkok - Manila - Taipei - Osaka - Tokyo - Anchorage (technical stop) - New York- Amsterdam -Basle - Beirut. The network also included flights to Stockholm, Copenhagen, London, Paris, Amman, Baghdad, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jeddah, Dhahran, Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kabul, Khartoum, Singapore. For more on these flights, refer to the Spring 1971 timetable document. In 1972, two Boeing 707s were added to the fleet as the airline continued to expand with new services to Muscat and Lagos. In 1973, 2 Boeing 707s were added and flights to N'Djamena, Tchad were started while frequencies were increased elsewhere. In 1974, as the airline reached the peak of its expansion, it placed orders for 2 Boeing 747-100 freighters. Flights were started to Kuala Lumpur while a new Green and Yellow livery was adopted. The Boeing 747-100s Freighters were delivered in May 1975, a few weeks after military conflict had erupted in Lebanon. They were used on the New York-Amsterdam-Basle-Beirut sector but had to be withdrawn from service a year and a half later as the situation in Lebanon continued to deteriorate. After 1975, nothing would be the same, neither for Lebanon nor for TMA.

TMA's OD-AGY (still registered as N7096 at the time thus photo was taken) landing in Basle, July 1976.
The green and yellow livery was used between 1974 and 2000. Copyright Eduard Marmet @Airliners.net.
TableII: TMA Data Sheet 1976-1983

Year
 Boeing 747
 Boeing 707
 Workforce
 Tons Carried
 Revenue Ton-Miles
 Flight Hours
 Revenue (Loss) LL*
1976
 2
 7
 1987
 91672
 334,524,000
 30883
 5,120,000
1977
 0
 10
 2038
 99762
 320,983,000
 32589
 22,944,000
1978
 0
 12
 2058
 97599
 314,819,000
 34443
 18,831,000
1979
 0
 11
 1925
 117170
 367,115,000
 36039
 (-10,686,000)
1980
 0
 11
 1961
 100060
 319,472,000
 30191
 (-14,292,000)
1981
 0
 9
 1742
 89119
 277,392,000
 25282
 (-17,561,000)
1982
 0
 8
 1783
 89588
 284,855,000
 26591
 (-78,441,000)
1983
 0
 8
 N/A
 N/A
 261,130,000
 22000
 N/A
* 1 USD = approx 4.5 LL during the 1976-1982 period. From: Annahar Newspaper, issue 11/7/1983 for data 1976-1982. N/A= data not available


One of TMA's two Boeing 747-100 Freighters (still wearing the US registration N9676, soon to be changed to OD-AGC)
spotted in New York-JFK, in July 1975. Copyright George W. Hamlin @Airliners.net .


The same airliner, in Basle, June 1975. Copyright Eduard Marmet @Airliners.net.


TMA's second Boeing 747-100 freighter, OD-AGM, seen in Amsterdam, June 1976. Copyright Peter de Groot @Airliners.net.

IV- Exile and Survival: 1976-1986

In 1976, Beirut International Airport was closed for a total 168 days because of the raging armed conflict in the city and the airport's vicinity. Despite a new cargo facility, increasing the capacity to 800 tons a day, and the new Jumbos, TMA's future in Lebanon did not look bright.  The airline had to transfer most of its operations to the United Arab Emirates: Dubai was the temporary base several times between 1976 and 1982, while most operations originated from Sharjah between 1982 and 1986.


TMA's OD-AGO, with a rather strange and temporary white livery, seen in Basle in 1977. Copyright Eduard Marmet @Airliners.net

The airline was able to maintain a significant activity as shown in Table II (above) but started to suffer increasing financial losses in 1979; the year during which the rights to fly the round the world service were withdrawn. The fleet at the time consisted of 11 Boeing 707s and scheduled flights were operated to Abu Dhabi, Amman, Amsterdam, Baghdad, Bahrain, Bangkok, Basle, Beirut, Bombay, Copenhagen, Dhahran, Doha, Dubai, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Khartoum, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, London, Manila, Muscat, New York, Osaka, Paris,  Singapore, Stockholm, Taipei and Tokyo.For more details, refer to the Fall 1979 timetable document. In July 1979 one of TMA's Boeing 707s crashed during crew training killing 6 crewmen. Another Boeing 707 was badly damaged during the shelling of Beirut International Airport in July 1981 while a thrird Boeing 707 was severely damaged as it flew through a typhoon near Tokyo in October of the same year. A fourth Boeing 707 was destroyed by the Israeli Army during its invasion of Lebanon in 1982, reducing TMA's fleet to 8 airliners in all. In 1983, the airline had to cut its operations drastically reducing frequencies. In 1984, a merger proposal with MEA was aborted, while TMA continued to operate mostly out of Sharjah. In 1985, following the hijacking of a TWA Boeing 727 to Beirut, TMA was banned from flying to the USA and flights to JFK had to be suspended as of July 1st of that year. The airline continued to suffer considerable losses and had to temporarily cease all operations between late 1985 and mid-1986. A chapter was closed in TMA's history in November 1986 with the departure of Mounir Abou Haidar, the founder of the airline.TMA was sold to a Lebanese group of investors, Jet Holdings, and amidst unfavourable conditions, the airline moved its operations back to Beirut in early 1987.

TMA's OD-AGD, spotted in Basle, 1987. Copyright Ralph Kunadt @Airlinerphotos.com.

V- The Decline: 1987-1996



"TMA returns", an add announcing the move back to Beirut and the resumption of charter cargo flights as of October 1st 1987 and scheduled and charter flights to Europe, the Gulf and Far East as of November 15th 1987. From the Annahar daily newspaper.


One of TMA's Boeing 707s seen in Amsterdam, 1987. Copyright Michael Prophet @Airliners.net.

Under the new management, TMA moved its base back to Beirut and operated charter and scheduled flights with its reduced fleet of 7 Boeing 707s. Operations dropped following Beirut International Airport's prolonged closure in 1989 to 170,260,000 freight revenue ton miles and the airline suffered 17 million USD losses. By the end of the armed conflict in Lebanon in 1990, TMA was merely a loss-making shadow of its former self with a fleet of 6 Boeing 707s, a workforce of 824 employees,  113,630,000 freight revenue ton miles and no less than 17,7 million USD deficit. TMA continued to operate over a reduced network of scheduled and charter operations and to perform cargo flights on behalf of other airlines such as Kuwait Airways.
In 1993, TMA was bought by the Lebanese Air Investment Holdings and a restructuration program was launched. In July 1993, one of TMA's Boeing 707s crashed near Amsterdam, fortunately a non-fatal accident, and the airline's fleet shrunk further to 5 Boeing 707s. Stuck in deficit and undercapitalized, the airline's operations continued to deteriorate during the nineties. In 1995, the workforce was cut to 519 employees, while only 85,600,000 freight revenue ton miles were carried. The workforce was reduced further to around 400 employees over the course of the next few years. Persistent  losses and mounting debt made the airline's situation so desperate that it had to suspend all operations briefly in 1996.

VI- From "Horizon 2000" to a Grounded Fleet : 1997-2004

In November 1996, and with the help of the Lebanese government, a new initiative called "Horizon 2000" was launched. TMA's capital was increased to 40 million USD. TMA resumed its sheduled operations with regular flights from Beirut to Paris, Amsterdam, Khartoum, Sharjah and Kuwait. Charter flights were also operated on behalf of other airlines. A commercial agreement was signed with Cargolux in 1998, as the airline prepared to restart flights to the Far East, with the introduction of a new destination, Shanghai, and the negociation of the renewal of traffic agreements between Lebanon, Thailand and Japan. TMA was even able to announce break-even financial results for 1998, despite a difficult social climate and increasing competition from international carriers.



MEA's OD-AGO, seen in Amsterdam in July 1997. Copyright Michael Prophet @Airliners.net

TMA's OD-AGP,new livery, spotted in Paris - Orly; 04-2000. Copyright Snorre VIP - Vienna International Planespotters@Airliners.net.

In 2000, a new livery  was adopted as the airline braced for the effects of the open-skies policy voted by the Lebanese legislators, opening Lebanon's air cargo market to even harsher competition.
New markets were explored, including a joint venture with Syrianair; a regional "Air Taxi" company, but nothing came out of these talks. Also in 2000, TMA operated a few flights to Baghdad for the UN-approved "oil- for food" program. New scheduled services were opened to Bergamo near Milan while charter flights were often flown to several destinations including Ostend, and Eldorett (Kenya). The airline's scheduled operations included flights to Amsterdam (3 flights per week), Paris-Orly (2), Bergamo (1), Cairo (1), Sharjah (2), Khartoum-Entebbe (2). New aircraft were badly needed in order to improve the airline's efficiency and increase operations. An Airbus A310F was leased from Islandflug between April and November 2002, while 3 DC8s were leased in 2003. TMA was also able to obtain the government's approval in June 2002 for a passenger charter division "TMA-Leisure". The airline would lease an Airbus A320 and charter it to Lebanese tour-operators. Despite all these initiatives, the airline continued to suffer heavy losses, reportedly around 11 million USD for 2002 alone.

TMA's leased Airbus A310F, seen in Ostend, Belgium, October 2002. Copyright  Luc Van Belleghem @Airliners.net.

TMA's operations suffered another blow in December 2003 when, following the crash of a Beirut-bound Guinean Boeing 727 in Cotonou (Benin), the Lebanese authorities decided to ground the airline's ageing 4 Boeing 707s. One of the Boeing 707s was leased out to a Sudanese operator while the 3 others were stored at the airline's hangars in Beirut and put for sale. The loss making airline (cumulated debt estimated at 85 million USD) was not in a position that would enable the swift acquisition of new aircraft. TMA subcontracted some of its operations to other airlines, and resorted to the lease of some of its capacity space in Beirut. In February 2004, TMA's management hastily tried to dismiss 250 employees, more than two thirds of the workforce, including 46 out of its 53 pilots and had to face the expected reaction from politicians, worker unions and the Lebanese Pilots' Association. This issue was still unresolved in 2005, 18 months after the Cotonou crash, a period during which the airline did not operate a single flight using its own equipment. In August 2005, it was still unclear whether the company would just continue to subcontract cargo shipments to and from Lebanon using flights operated by other airlines or whether it would attempt to fly its own cargo planes again.


TMA's Boeing 707 fleet, idle by the airline's hangar in Beirut, January 2005. Copyright, Vatche Mitilian @Airliners.net.

VII-Conclusions

Few would guess today that the world's largest all-cargo scheduled round the world network was once operated by a Lebanese airline. This will no doubt remain TMA's legacy and contribution to the history of civil aviation in Lebanon, despite the airline's decline and uncertain future.

VIII- Appendix/Documents


vvvvvvvvvv xxxxxxxxxxx
Spring 1971 Timetable xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxFall 1979 TimetablexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTMA Fleet List

VIII- References

1- Myron J Smith Jr. The Airline Encyclopedia, Volume 3.
2- Najib Alamuddin. The Flying Sheikh. 1987. Quartet Books. London.
3-Annahar Newspaper, issue 11/7/1983 for data 1976-1982.

IX- Links

1- TMA's official website
2- The Cedarjet Pages
3- Pascal Brugier's Registres du Monde
4- ATDB.org
5- Airliners.net
6- Airlinerphotos.com
7- Timetable Images Website.
8- L'Orient Le Jour Archives.
9- The Daily Star Online.

X- Feedback:

Please do not hesitate to share any comments.

The opinions and views expressed are those of the author and do not engage Trans Mediterranean Airways (TMA) in any way.

First edition uploaded on August 8th 2005.

























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