, is set to resume flights to Damascus and Aleppo, which had been suspended since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, the pro-government Sabah daily reported.){kind=link}
Turkey’s national carrier, Turkish Airlines (THY), is set to resume flights to Damascus and Aleppo, which had been suspended since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, the pro-government Sabah daily reported.
The decision follows the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during an offensive by an alliance of rebel groups on December 8.
A team from the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ), which is responsible for air traffic services in Turkey, traveled to Syria to conduct technical inspections at both the Damascus and Aleppo international airports.
DHMİ Chairman Enes Çakmak shared a photo of himself and his team on social media with the message “We are a huge family, Aleppo-Damascus Airport.”
As a result of these developments, flights to Syria have been re-listed on the THY website and mobile application, although ticket sales have not yet begun.
There has been no announcement regarding the specific date for the resumption of the flights.
Meanwhile, the first commercial flight in Syria since the removal of Assad, who fled to Russia, took off from the Damascus airport and landed in Aleppo on Wednesday, with 43 people on board including a group of journalists.
Pro-Assad forces abandoned the airport in the capital on December 8. Since then, no flights had taken off or landed due to security reasons.
An airport official told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity that international flights would resume on December 24, following maintenance work.