The entry of Comet 4Cs into service with Middle East Airlines on Jan. 6 represented the opening of a new era for this carrier and the culmination of a great deal of hard work and reorganization.

Preparations for the introduction by M.E.A. of turbojet transports have been in progress throughout most of the past year and the work has continued in parallel with the development of the company’s new engineering base and headquarters on the north boundary of Beirut International Airport. This self-contained base, with its offices, workshops and two big hangars, was initially planned soon after MASCO (Mideast Aircraft Service Company) was formed in 1955. Since July, 1960, MASCO, as such, has been a property-holding company and the base has been an integral part of M.E.A.’s organization.

Operational development work in preparation for the Comets has, from the start, been handled by a small group of line pilots, assisted by a development engineer. As will be seen later, useful and interesting results have stemmed from this unique situation in which the thinking of active pilots has dominated the forward planning on the operational side.

Not the least of the problems for this comparatively small airline when introducing advanced new equipment has been concerned with the fact that its operating and engineering base is far from the normal centers of the aviation and airline industries. Consequently the engineering base has had to be most fully and completely equipped, so as to be independent of outside help, and the operational and crew-training planning has had to be progressed in this knowledge.