A second private charter organized by the U.S. Embassy has left Lebanon, the State Department said today, bringing to 250 the number of Americans and their immediate family members who have left the country on U.S.-facilitated flights.
The U.S. has also worked with airlines to make 1,400 seats available for U.S. citizens on existing commercial flights, but not all of those tickets are affordable.
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said U.S. families were having “severe difficulty in finding safe travel routes home from Lebanon,” with some flights costing up to $8,000 a ticket. The State Department said today it was aware of the high prices and that they among the reasons for organizing the private charters.
“The most that any American will pay for a seat on those flights is $283, and if they can’t afford $283, they don’t have $283, we will provide them a loan from the U.S. government for the cost of that ticket,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. “So we would urge any American citizen who wants to leave to take the advice that we are offering, to register with our website, and we will reach out to them about flights that are available and work with them to try to get them on a flight they can afford.”
The State Department is prohibited under U.S. law from providing seats to American citizens without seeking compensation.
The U.S. will continue to organize the flights “as long as the security situation is challenging, as long as there aren’t sufficient commercial options available and as long as there’s demand,” Miller added.
The State Department also announced a program offering loans to U.S. citizens who wish to stay but want to instead move to safer destinations in Lebanon.
“We are working 24/7 to help provide U.S. citizens in Lebanon with as many options as possible to depart,” Miller said. “We know that not all of them wish to leave, but our goal is to provide as many options as we can to make sure all of them are safe.”
