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Lebanon bans Cypriot airline due to minority owner being Israeli

Global Knafaim owns a 49.9% stake in TUS Airways, which was enough for Lebanon’s boycott of Israeli companies to come into effect.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Cyprus’ largest air carrier has been banned from Lebanese airspace due to it having an Israeli minority shareholder, Beirut’s civil aviation authority’s head announced Saturday.

“We have decided to prevent the Cypriot company TUS Air from flying in Lebanese airspace and from landing at Rafik Hariri International Airport, Beirut, until further notice,” director-general Fadi al-Hassan said in a statement reported by Lebanon’s National News Agency.

The airline came under scrutiny after the Cypriot Civil Aviation Authority informed its Lebanese counterpart that TUS would be providing air services between the two countries, al-Hassan explained. A routine internet check then revealed that an Israeli company, Global Knafaim, was a 49.9% shareholder in the company.

Global Knafaim is controlled by Knafaim Holdings Ltd, which has a controlling stake in Israel’s national carrier, El Al. The public company bought its almost-half share of TUS a year ago from the then-sole owner of the fleet, U.S. businessman Kenneth Woolley, for $5 million.

The fraction of a percentage that keeps the air carrier from officially being Israeli-owned did not stop Lebanon from invoking its boycott of all things Israel, which has been in effect since the Arab League invoked the prohibition after the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. While the impact of the ban has decreased significantly over the decades, with enforcement being applied only irregularly, Lebanon still has the Boycott Israel law on its books and has decided to apply it in this case.

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Proving the sporadic nature of the boycott’s application, the authority did not ban the now-bankrupt Ukrainian Aerosvit Airlines when its controlling shareholder in the 2000s was Jewish-Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who also holds Israeli and Cypriot citizenships.

The Larnaca-based airline, which was founded eight years ago, has only five Airbus A320-200 aircraft with a capacity of 180 passengers. While its current roster of destinations includes several European countries and Israel, the only Arab city on the list is Amman, Jordan. Its Tel Aviv route is popular, as Cyprus is less than an hour’s flight away, making it a favored destination for a quick vacation for many Israelis.

TUS gained the world’s spotlight briefly last year when it brought Israeli soccer fans to Doha, Qatar for the FIFA World Cup. They were the first commercial flights between the two countries that have no diplomatic relations.

Qatar had bowed to the FIFA rule barring discrimination against any country’s citizens from attending the competition.

Al-Hassan said the ban will remain in effect until further notice.