Algeria to resume flights to Syria

CAIRO – 12 May 2017: Algeria will be resuming its flights to Syria according to a proclamation by the Algerian Ambassador in Damascus, Saleh Bosha, issued in the Syrian ''Watan'' newspaper on Thursday. Algeria's flight program to Syria would be the first national airline flying to the latter country in over three years.

“It is normal for my country to be the first to operate its flights to Syria, especially that the Syrian community [in Algeria] amounts to almost 40 thousand,” Bosha said, asserting that they (the Algerians) are aware of the real situation in Syria despite what he calls the “systematically misleading media”.

Syrian Transport Minister, Ali Hammoud, met with Bosha and expressed the ministry's willingness to expedite the process of resuming flights in order to encourage trade exchange between the two countries.

Hammoud further stressed the importance of re-launching Algerian flights to Damascus, given the fact that Algeria can export many products that Syria desperately needs. He stated that three European countries have already petitioned to resume their flights to Syria.

Most airports have suspended their flights to Syria since 2012, due to civil war conflicts. However, a few countries have allowed some flights to and from Damascus International Airport in the past two years. Flights were mostly limited to local private and public companies.

Syrian civil aviation resumed flights through Manama airport in Bahrain in 2015. The first flight, carrying 55 passengers, left from Bahrain International Airport to Damascus on May 15, after a three-year hiatus. Egypt’s first flight to Syria, operated by a private airline, left from Cairo International Airport to Damascus in December 2015.