The file of bird and wildlife risks in the vicinity of Rafic Hariri International Airport – Beirut has entered a new executive phase, after the General Authority of Civil Aviation issued a circular obligating the various entities operating within the airport campus and its operational surroundings to take immediate preventive measures, including removing sources of bird attraction, cleaning facilities and warehouses, preventing their proliferation or gathering, and reporting any location that may pose a danger to the movement of aircraft.
The circular bore the number 18/1 and was issued on August 21, 2026, and was directed to the Beirut International Airport Corporation, all airlines operating at Rafic Hariri International Airport, ground services and handling companies, and operators of hangars, warehouses, and facilities affiliated with the airport, in addition to all companies, institutions, and entities operating within the airport campus and its operational surroundings.
The authority specified the subject of the circular as “taking the necessary measures to combat bird dangers and wildlife dangers on the campus of Rafic Hariri International Airport – Beirut and all Lebanese airports,” based on Cabinet Resolution No. 27-1 issued at its session on August 7, 2026.
The authority explained that the measures come in compliance with Lebanese and international aviation safety regulations, and to avoid accidents and risks resulting from birds colliding with aircraft, which pose a threat to air traffic and its regularity, stressing the need to address the causes that attract birds and wildlife in a proactive and preventive manner, instead of limiting ourselves to treating the problem after it appears.
It requested all concerned parties to cooperate fully with the management of Rafic Hariri International Airport and the authorities concerned with aviation safety in implementing the bird and wildlife risk management program, and to report any sites or gatherings that could attract birds or wild animals, or any gaps that allow the passage of wild or stray animals into sensitive operational areas within the airport.
The circular stressed refraining from any practice or activity that would attract birds or provide food or water sources for them, or for wild and stray animals, whether within the airport campus or in the vicinity of the facilities of the concerned authorities.
He also prohibited leaving materials, equipment, and waste in a way that might provide places for birds to nest, stay, or congregate, and demanded that the necessary engineering and preventive measures be taken to close or protect places that birds could use for this purpose in a way that prevents their access to them.
The authority also requested that immediate and effective measures be taken to prevent the gathering and breeding of birds inside the hangars, warehouses, facilities and sites affiliated with them, as well as in their immediate surroundings, which expands the scope of responsibility from the runways and airways to the entire operational environment of the airport.
In terms of cleanliness and waste management, the circular obligated the concerned authorities to carry out periodic and regular cleaning of sheds, facilities and their surroundings, and to remove all waste, food remains, organic materials and any sources that could turn into a factor that attracts birds.
He also called for the removal of nests and sources that attract birds in a safe and orderly manner, and in coordination with the airport administration and the competent authorities when necessary, while adhering to safety requirements and applicable environmental regulations.
On the other hand, the authority warned against taking any individual or random action to combat birds if it would negatively affect the safety of aircraft, air operations, wildlife or neighboring facilities, stressing that removal and control operations must be carried out in accordance with methods and procedures approved by the competent authorities.
The authority pointed out that adherence to these measures “is not an optional measure or a circumstantial measure,” but rather falls within the requirements for maintaining aviation safety and managing operational risks at airports, which means that the new procedures will become a permanent part of the work and control mechanism within Lebanese air facilities.
It asked all parties to immediately begin implementing preventive measures within the sites under their responsibility, and to fully adhere to the circular and any subsequent circulars issued by the Beirut Airport administration, while following up on implementation in coordination with the competent authorities.
The circular went beyond mere guidance, as it stipulated that reports on any cases of non-compliance or violations be submitted to the General Authority of Civil Aviation to take appropriate measures in accordance with applicable regulations and laws. The circular was signed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors – Director General of the General Authority of Civil Aviation, Dr. Muhammad Aziz.
The step comes in implementation of a broad decision taken by the Council of Ministers on August 7 to address the sources of birds gathering around Beirut Airport, after their collision with aircraft was considered a permanent danger to the safety of air navigation.
The Council of Ministers decided to assign the Ministry of Agriculture to prevent the establishment or investment of farms and slaughterhouses of all types within a radius of 5 kilometers from the borders of the Rafic Hariri International Airport campus, in a semicircular manner, and to take immediate measures to close the institutions currently existing within this radius in coordination with the local, administrative and security authorities.
The Council also mandated the Ministries of the Interior, Municipalities, and Agriculture to take the necessary measures to prevent the acquisition or breeding of birds of all kinds, and to prevent any circumstances that could lead to attracting them within the same scope, while the Ministries of the Interior, Economy, and Agriculture were mandated to facilitate procedures for licensing and transferring the institutions included in the ban decision to locations outside the 5-kilometre radius.
On the same day, Minister of Public Works and Transport Fayez Rasamny held a coordination meeting devoted to addressing the factors leading to the gathering of birds around the airport, as part of an approach that the Ministry said was not limited to operational procedures within its campus, but rather moved towards addressing the environmental and field causes in the surrounding areas.
Minister of Industry, Joe Issa Al-Khoury, also pointed out that most of the farms located next to the airport are chicken farms, pointing out that raising pigeons in the region in turn poses a threat to aviation safety, at a time when the official authorities were waiting for the implementation of executive mechanisms to transfer the decisions of the Council of Ministers to reality.
The phenomenon of birds colliding with aircraft is one of the internationally known risks in the field of civil aviation, and its impact increases in the vicinity of airports during the take-off and landing phases due to the low altitude of aircraft. Birds gathering near the runways or entering the plane’s path can lead to damage to the engines or the nose of the plane and its external parts, as well as forcing the crews to take precautionary measures or return to the airport.
Therefore, aviation safety systems do not deal with the problem as being related to birds alone, but rather with the environment that attracts them, such as waste, food scraps, open water, farms, slaughterhouses, nests, and animal gathering areas, which is the point that the new circular focuses on by moving from combating birds after they appear to basically removing the sources of attraction.
The circular thus constitutes the executive circle within the airport and its associated facilities, while the Council of Ministers’ decision targets the external environment surrounding the airport, so that treatment is distributed over two integrated paths: the first is operational within the airport campus, and the second is environmental and regulatory within a range of up to 5 kilometers around it.
The actual implementation of these procedures would place airlines, handling companies, hangars, warehouses, and entities operating inside the airport with direct responsibilities, as they are now required not only to address any gathering of birds, but also to monitor their facilities, report sources of danger, remove waste and nests, and prevent any environment that might attract wildlife.
Thus, the file of birds around Beirut Airport moves from warnings and meetings to a more stringent stage of implementation and monitoring, with the General Authority of Civil Aviation announcing that compliance is no longer an option or a temporary measure, and that violations could become the subject of reports and legal and regulatory procedures, as part of an attempt to reduce one of the risks that could directly affect the safety of aircraft, passengers, and airport traffic.
