Middle East Airlines (MEA) announced Thursday that it was affected during the Summer 2025 season by the global Pratt & Whitney engine crisis, which powers its Airbus A321neo aircraft. This led to the temporary grounding of three modern aircraft from its fleet.
MEA noted that the global aviation industry has been facing challenges due to issues with Pratt & Whitney's GTF engines. This has affected many airlines worldwide, with more than 500 aircraft taken out of service globally.
In a statement, the Lebanese airline explained that the aircraft were unexpectedly grounded earlier than anticipated, contrary to the maintenance schedule set by the engine manufacturer, which had initially projected service until 2026. The airline emphasized that at no point was flight safety compromised.
“Faced with this situation, the company had several options: either cancel certain flights and refund passengers, which would have significantly disrupted travel plans, or rebook passengers on other airlines, which was not feasible due to insufficient seat availability during peak season,” the statement said.
MEA, in line with its commitment to safely transport passengers under challenging circumstances and given peak-season demand, decided to lease three aircraft with full crews and reschedule flights. These aircraft were leased from a Lithuanian operator and certified under European safety standards.
The leased aircraft include economy and offer standard European business class rather than MEA’s premium product.
The Lebanese carrier, in its statement, responded to “some exaggerated reports on social media” regarding the impact of the engine crisis.
MEA stated that in August 2025, it operated 1,301 flights carrying approximately 337,000 passengers. Only 111 of these flights were on leased aircraft, representing 8.53% of the total flights. Business-class passengers affected by the differences in European business-class service totaled 2,237 out of 46,000—less than 5% of the total business-class travelers.
To compensate for the difference in service, MEA offered additional frequent flyer miles to business-class passengers on the leased aircraft, according to a statement released by the carrier.
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