EASA Bulletin CZIB-2026-06-R2 Tells Operators to Avoid Beirut FIR, Allows Sea-Approach Flights to Beirut Airport Until 16 November
Why It MattersOverflight ban with a narrow sea-corridor exception keeps Beirut reachable for EU-regulated operators only through risk-assessed coastal routings, leaving the eastern Mediterranean effectively closed to through traffic.
EASA's Conflict Zone Information Bulletin CZIB-2026-06 for Lebanon, now in revision R2, was extended on 30 September 2026 and is valid until 16 November 2026 unless reviewed earlier. The bulletin was first issued on 8 July 2026, and R2 changed neither its content nor its recommendations. It recommends that air operators not operate within Lebanese airspace at any altitude or flight level. The affected area is the entire Beirut Flight Information Region (OLBB), which rules out overflights as well as landings.
Operations to and from Beirut International Airport (BEY / OLBA) are permitted under two conditions: the approach must start from the sea and the departure must end over the sea, and the operator must base the decision on an up-to-date risk assessment with continuous risk monitoring.
EASA links the risk to the regional conflict that began on 28 February 2026 with US and Israeli strikes against Iran. In Lebanon this has meant Israeli attacks on targets in Lebanese territory and Hezbollah operations against Israel. A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has been in place since 16 April 2026 and was extended twice, and on 26 June 2026 Israel, Lebanon and the United States signed a Trilateral Framework Agreement meant to consolidate it. EASA says these steps reduced military activity, but it records recurrent violations in August 2026, mainly in southern Lebanon.
The specific risk EASA names is misidentification, meaning an air defence system treating a civilian aircraft as a threat. That risk is concentrated over land, where military activity takes place. An arrival that stays over the Mediterranean until final approach and a departure that climbs out over the water avoid the inland areas, which, together with the operator's own risk assessment, EASA considers sufficient mitigation.
The bulletin formally applies to operators certified under EU air operations rules and to third-country operators flying to, from or within the EU under an EASA TCO authorisation. For other carriers, including Lebanon's flag carrier and non-EU airlines, it is advice only. Normal long-haul routings between Europe and the Gulf or Asia do not cross Lebanese airspace and have been routed around the eastern Mediterranean for months. All active Middle East bulletins except Jordan's expire on the same day.
