Syria announced on Saturday that flights from its primary airport in Damascus, the capital, will resume international service next week, following a pause that commenced after last month’s removal of President Bashar al-Assad from power.
“We announce that Damascus International Airport will start accepting international flights beginning Tuesday,” the state news agency SANA reported, quoting Ashhad al-Salabi, the head of the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport.
“We give confidence to Arab and international airlines that we have started a phase of reviving the Aleppo and Damascus airports with the cooperation of our partners, in order to be able to receive flights from all over the world,” he said.
Aid planes from around the world and foreign diplomatic delegations have begun landing in Syria. Domestic flights within the country have also restarted.
Qatar Airways announced Thursday it will resume flights to Syria’s capital after a nearly 13-year hiatus, with service initially reinstated with three flights a week starting on the following Tuesday.
A Qatari official said earlier this month that Doha had offered the new Syrian authorities assistance in restarting operations at Damascus Airport.
On December 18, the first flight since Islamist-led rebels ousted President Assad from power on December 8 departed from Damascus airport bound for Aleppo in the north of the country, AFP journalists witnessed.
