After a 12-year break, Syria’s national airline started operating regularly again on Wednesday, with its first aircraft arriving in Riyadh.
The move is part of a gradual reunion between the two countries that resumed diplomatic relations last year. Syrian Airlines announced the move, which the ambassador of Syria to Saudi Arabia confirmed to AFP.
A Syrian Airlines aircraft carrying 170 passengers made a routine route return landing in the Saudi capital, according to Ambassador Ayman Soussan.
Following a protracted break brought on by Syria’s civil conflict, he said the two nations have decided to “operate one round-trip flight per week between Riyadh and Damascus”.
According to Suleiman Khalil, an official in Syria’s transport ministry, the direct route may be extended, contingent on demand, to include airports in the Saudi cities of Jeddah and Dammam.
2012 saw the suspension of passenger flights between the two nations as a result of Riyadh’s break with Damascus over President Bashar al-Assad’s violent suppression of anti-government demonstrators, which sparked the nation’s civil war.
For those participating in the annual Muslim haj to Mecca and Medina, services between Syria and Saudi Arabia temporarily resumed in May.
Even though Saudi Arabia had advocated for Assad’s relations to be restored, the process has been slow.
It took more than a year for Saudi Arabia to appoint a new ambassador to Damascus after their diplomatic relations were restored.
Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, reconciled with Riyadh and signalled his country’s return to the region in May 2023 by attending his first Arab summit in Saudi Arabia in 13 years.