Qatar Airways Restarts Flights to Damascus, Syria
After an almost 13-year hiatus due to the civil war in Syria, Qatar Airways is the first major airline to resume flights to Damascus.
Qatar Airways flights to Damascus
Qatar Airways, which last flew to Syria in March 2012, has now resumed flights to the Syrian capital of Damascus one month after the fall of the Assad regime.
Three weekly Qatar Airways flights will connect Doha with Damascus.
The outbound flight is scheduled for 8.35 am, arriving in Damascus at 11.30 am, while the return departs the Syrian capital at 1.30 pm and arrives back in Doha at 4.05 pm.
Qatar Airways uses the Airbus A330-200 to operate its Doha-Damascus flights, which have 24 seats in business class and 236 seats in economy class.
If you want to fly one-way between Qatar and Syria, prices seem stable throughout the winter months, with the flight from Doha to Damascus costing 1,300 Qatari riyals (€348) or 3,400 riyals (€911) in business class on nearly all days of operation, while the reverse flight from Syria to Qatar costs $306 in economy class and $977 in business class.
As is standard for Middle Eastern flights with Qatar Airways, business class on its route to Damascus is marketed as first class, meaning you can access the airline’s excellent Al Safwa First Class Lounge in Doha before your flight, instead of the Al Mourjan Business Lounge.
Route network
The great advantage of Qatar Airways resuming flights to Damascus is that you can now use the airline’s vast route network to reach Syria with just a single connection in Doha from almost any part of the world, including dozens of destinations in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Depending on where you are connecting to or from, prices can be highly competitive.
For example, if you want to fly from Damascus to Dubai with Qatar Airways, there are plenty of tickets starting at $251 in economy class, while one-way flights from New York to Damascus start at $706.
Given the highly limited air traffic to and from Damascus in the past decade, this is certainly an exciting development for the people of Syria, the diaspora, and certain business travellers.
Whether you fly in economy class or in Qatar Airways business class, the airline offers a high-quality in-flight service that beats most of its competitors.
Safety
According to Qatar Airways, the airline ensures that “all necessary safety, security, and operational standards are met” for its Doha-Damascus flights.
Qatar Airways announced that the route relaunch “reflects the airline’s commitment to fostering regional connectivity and supporting passenger demand”.
Qatar Airways CEO Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer said: “We are pleased to resume flights to Damascus, a destination of great historical and cultural importance. This announcement underscores our dedication to fostering connectivity and facilitating travel for our passengers.”
Other airlines
Apart from Qatar Airways, there are also some Syrian airlines with flights out of Damascus.
Syrian Air is the government-owned flagship carrier of Syria, while Cham Wings Airlines is a privately owned competitor.
Both airlines offer domestic flights and currently fly to destinations in the Middle East and North Africa.
Cham Wings Airlines also currently offers international flights out of Aleppo, such as its service to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
Some of the videos shot on board these flights are quite something, showing scenes of singing and dancing passengers, with the crew also sometimes joining in, as seen on this Syrian Air flight from Damascus to Sharjah.
Personal comment
Although I normally don’t report on standard airline route resumptions, this is an exception, as seeing international traffic resume to Syria after the bloody civil war is certainly uplifting.
I’ve actually visited Syria before the outbreak of civil war, and even rank it second in my top 10 of the friendliest countries in the world.
Coincidentally, while I was in Syria, I also took a Qatar Airways flight from Damascus to Doha and back as a little side trip, which was actually my first time flying with the airline, so seeing the resumption of Qatar Airways flights to Damascus brings back great memories.
If there is one thing the Syrian people deserve, it’s a return to normalcy, although it’s too soon to tell whether that will actually happen.
While I’m more than happy to see the removal of Bashar al-Assad as Syrian dictator, it remains to be seen what kind of regime will follow in his footsteps.
Current de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known under his nom de guerre al-Jolani) and the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) organisation which he leads, have both an extremist and terrorist history, so it remains to be seen whether they will shake that off in the interest of national unity.
Although the situation is currently relatively calm in Damascus and large swathes of Syria, there is still some fighting in parts of the country, and especially ethnic minorities are being wary (and rightfully so) of what their future will hold under the new regime.
Conclusion
After an almost 13-year service suspension due to the Syrian civil war, Qatar Airways has resumed flights between Doha and Damascus, offering three departures each week.
As Qatar Airways offers great connectivity at its hub in Doha to destinations all over the world, this allows Syrian people, as well as foreigners wishing to visit Syria, to easily reach Damascus.
Besides Qatar Airways, also the local carriers Syrian Air and Cham Wings Airlines now again operate flights from Damascus to destinations all across the Middle East.
