Aegean Airlines says it has suspended its flights to Beirut

Aegean Airlines said it had suspended all flights to Beirut pending the results of an investigation into the cause of damage to one of its planes that flew to the Lebanese capital.

Ground crew at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport found external damage to the fuselage of a plane that flew from Athens last week, prompting the airline to suspend all flights to and from Beirut, a company statement said.

Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi on Monday denied claims about a terrorist attack that allegedly happened at Beirut airport causing damage to Aegean’s aircraft.

Mawlawi clarified that the hole found in the fuselage of the aircraft was caused by a collision with a small drawbridge before the plane’s landing at Beirut airport, the Lebanese National News Agency reported. [Reuters, Xinhua]