Turkey, UAE reopen Syrian skies

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday that Syrian Airlines and Turkey’s AJet will resume flights between the two countries, marking a major milestone in Syria’s reentry into regional air travel markets. Earlier on the same day, Emirates Airlines confirmed it would resume flights to Syria in mid-July, ending a 13-year suspension that began with the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2012.

In a statement on X, Turkey’s communications directorate quoted Erdogan as stating that “Syria Airlines will soon start flights to Türkiye,” adding that “our AJet company will operate regular flights to Syria.”

AJet, Turkey’s low-cost carrier, had previously announced its plans in late March, becoming the second Turkish airline to confirm operations to Damascus.

Turkish Airlines resumed the route on January 13, a little over a month after Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled by a coalition of opposition groups in early December. It marked the first flight from Turkey to Syria since 2012.

According to AJet, flights between Istanbul and Damascus will run four times a week, while routes to and from Ankara will operate three times weekly.

Earlier on the same day, Emirates Airlines also announced flights to post-Assad Syria which had also been halted since 2012. Prior to the suspension, the airline had carried over 2.1 million passengers in and out of Syria.

“Emirates is set to reintroduce flights to Damascus from July 16, 2025,” the airline said in a statement. “Operations were suspended in 2012, and the return of services follows a comprehensive evaluation in coordination with the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA),” it added.

The Emirati airline will initially operate three weekly flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays, with an additional Saturday flight added on August 2. Daily flights are expected to begin on October 26.

Of note, after the fall of Assad, Damascus International Airport was left in a state of array but reopened to international flights in early January. The first plane to take off was a Syrian Airlines flight bound for Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.