First flight since fall of Assad lands in Aleppo after departing from Damascus

Airport officials call for sanctions to be lifted to restore aviation sector

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A test flight that took off from the Syrian capital Damascus landed in the northern city of Aleppo on Wednesday morning, as officials urged a lifting of sanctions to allow Syria's aviation sector to function again.

Workers and security troops from the new Hayat Tahrir Al Sham-led government, watched as a delegation of officials, journalists and volunteers landed at Aleppo International Airport on an Airbus A320 operated by national carrier Syrian Air. It was the first journey by air in Syria since former president Bashar Al Assad fled the country on December 8.

The former Syrian flag used by the Assad regime on the plane's winglets had been painted over with the three-star emblem used by the opposition to his former government. "I have never been on a plane before - I can't describe how this feels," 18-year-old civil society volunteer Hassan Hamoudi told The National as he stepped off the plane, carrying a large three-starred flag used by the Syrian opposition.

Airport officials have been working since rebels took the airport from pro-regime troops at the end of November as they swept into Aleppo, the first main city they took from Mr Al Assad. There was evidence of fighting at the airport, including bullet holes in the glass windows of the departures hall and pockmarked concrete walls. However, much of the site had been cleared up and the runway repaved by volunteers from Syria's civil defence force, known as the White Helmets after their signature hardhats, who were also on the tarmac to see in the first plane.

Similar to other places across Aleppo, large posters of Mr Al Assad adorning the airport had been torn down, or had the former president's face ripped from them.

“We’ve just reopened,” said Ali Rifai, a public relations official for Syria’s new caretaker transitional government, after the flight took off from Damascus. “Thank God this was possible with our combined efforts with the old Syrian cadre,” Mr Rifai said, referring to airport staff who returned to work following the formation of the caretaker government. “All is going well.”

"This is a test flight, to ensure the readiness of the airports," Ahmed Al Renjbari, the airport's director, told The National. "As the situation becomes more secure, we will hopefully be able to operate the airport at full capacity. The technical and administrative workers are all ready."

Aleppo's airport dates back to the French Mandate period in Syria, and the current terminal was inaugurated in 1999, during Hafez Al Assad's rule in Syria. After being closed during major fighting in Aleppo, flights began operating again in 2020 on various airlines to destinations including Beirut, Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport and Erbil in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Israeli air strikes hit the airport and the surrounding area several times in recent years, due to significant alleged Iranian weapons transfers passing through the site.

"This was a military base for the regime, so when we came, we fixed and repaired the runway so civilian aircraft can land here," Youssef Azza, a director in the Syrian civil defence force, told The National. He said that his teams had found rooms with equipment used by former pro-regime forces upon arrival, but not in large quantities. "They fled from here. There were a few remnants of war here, and we cleared them up," he added.

Captain Ali Rida, a pilot for 30 years, flew the plane from Damascus on Wednesday and said he had been able to maintain standard operating procedures throughout. As he spoke, the plane was preparing to take off back to the Syrian capital, to ensure the return journey could be completed without issues.

Standing proudly on the tarmac after landing the flight, Captain Ali told The National that in his 30 years working as a pilot, the biggest obstacle has been sanctions imposed on Syria's aviation sector.

"Of our 16 planes in the Syrian Air fleet, only two are operating," he said. "Eighty per cent of our fleet is grounded, because of sanctions. Hopefully the sanctions will be lifted and the fleet will return to its original size, and even larger. Now, I'm not sure we will have flights every day, but gradually the flight slots will fill up. It will be domestic flights, then move to international flights."

A senior technical official said sanctions have grounded many planes because engineers have been forced to take spare parts from aircraft to keep a couple running. “Repairing the planes was extremely hard. We would take spare parts from the other aircraft to put them in the two planes to operate them," Youssef Al Khalil, a Syrian Air technical engineer who was onboard the first flight, told The National.

"The first step from the international community needs to be lifting the sanctions on Syria, so we can repair the planes and buy new ones.” Syria's airports have long been tied up in bureaucracy, and the new rulers are very much in the stage of transferring the powers of the former regime into new structures. The arriving delegation aside, the airport was empty, bar a few armed HTS fighters guarding the doors of the building.

According to Nour, an Interior Ministry immigration official sitting in the passport hall, Syria's new authorities are planning to remove a $100 "arrival fee" that Syrian citizens used to have to pay on arrival at the airport from international destinations. The fee was charged in Syrian pounds at the central bank rate, adding a significant financial burden to citizens wishing to travel abroad and return home.

Nour, who gave only his first name, had been employed at the airport throughout the former regime's rule and hoped that the site would function more efficiently under its new rulers.

"There will be a new electronic visa system for foreigners, there will be an online link where they can apply," he told The National through freshly-cleaned glass at passport control. Captain Ali Rida hopes that international flights will start again soon - both to serve Syrians and so he can once again fly to destinations across Europe and the Gulf that he used to serve.

"We want to get back to our international destinations. I used to fly to London and Manchester. I am missing my layover in the UK," he said, with a big smile.