Damascus International Airport is ready to resume international flights on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after the recent overthrow of Bashar al-Assad by armed opposition fighters. This resumption comes after a period of inactivity, during which no flights had taken off or landed since December 8, when pro-Assad forces abandoned the facility amid a swift offensive by opposition forces that began on November 27.
The state news agency, SANA, quotes Ashhad al-Salibi, head of the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport. “We announce we will start receiving international flights to and from Damascus International Airport,” he stated, signaling a new chapter for the war-torn nation.
Al-Salibi sought to reassure both Arab and international airlines about efforts to rehabilitate both Aleppo and Damascus airports, with a lot of partnership. This shall help in adopting international safety measures and opening access doors for global travel to Syria.
Resuming flights has a political and economic implication for the country. The new administration has been reaching out to key regional players, particularly Qatar, to ensure that the Damascus airport meets the safety protocols. This is an effort to send a message of normalcy, encouraging hundreds of thousands of Syrians living abroad to return.
Additionally, this would indicate to the world that a newly formed government is capable of providing safety standards everywhere in the country, although the changeover is still challenging.
Foreign diplomats and international humanitarian flights have already started landing in the country, but local flights remained suspended until now. Domestic service resumed on 18 December from Damascus to Aleppo. Flights from Damascus to Dubai in United Arab Emirates also will resume, an anonymous official at Syrian Airlines said on Tuesday.
In a related development, Qatar Airways said it would resume flights to Damascus, the first such service in nearly 13 years, starting with three weekly flights from Tuesday.
