Syria’s Damascus airport lifts restrictions on international flights

Syria's Damascus International Airport is expected to resume regular international flights starting at 08:00 (GMT+3) on January 7. 

An official from the Damascus flight information centre said that restrictions on flight services, which previously required special permits from the country's aviation authorities, will be lifted from that time, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

Earlier, Head of Syria's General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport Ashhad al-Salibi announced that Damascus International Airport would begin receiving and dispatching international flights on January 7. The air traffic control service clarified that, until January 20, one of the airport's runways and a parking area for aircraft will remain closed.

A temporary adjustment to the radio frequency of one of the airport’s beacons will remain in place until the third week of March. Syria’s commercial airline Cham Wings has also confirmed its readiness to resume international flights from Damascus. The airline plans to restart regular services to Sharjah beginning on January 7.

Syria's national carrier, Syrian Airlines, will also reinstate its flights from Damascus to Dubai and back. Qatar Airways, the national airline of Qatar, plans to launch regular flights between Doha and Damascus three times a week, starting on January 7. 

Advisor to the Prime Minister and Spokesman for the UAE Foreign Ministry Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari said that the airline’s specialists are working on restoring full functionality at Damascus International Airport, including the resumption of international flights. Meanwhile, operations at Aleppo International Airport under special permits have been extended until January 12. 

Syria's airports halted operations on December 8, 2024 following the change in government. At the same time, the country's airspace was closed to flights transiting through Syrian corridors to other countries. The airspace was reopened on December 14. On December 18, for the first time in 11 days since the suspension of air traffic, Syrian Airlines conducted a flight from Damascus to Aleppo and back aboard an A320-212 aircraft. 

The flight proceeded without incident. At the end of November, armed opposition groups launched a large-scale offensive on Syrian army positions. On December 8, they entered Damascus, and Bashar al-Assad resigned from the presidency and left the country. On December 10, Mohammed al-Bashir, who led the so-called Salvation Government in Idlib province, announced his appointment as the head of Syria's transitional government, which is set to last until March 1, 2025.

By Naila Huseynova