Aleppo International Airport opened after eight years suspension because of terrorism

Aleppo International Airport, the second largest terminal in Syria, will re-open on Wednesday after a nine-year closure. The development comes shortly after Syrian government troops, backed by the Russian air force, recaptured the entire countryside of Aleppo this week, defeating members of the Turkish-backed opposition who have been based in the Aleppo suburbs since 2012.

In addition to the airport, government troops also retook the main Damascus-Aleppo Highway, also held by the opposition for nearly a decade, in addition to the strategic towns of Saraqib and Maaret al-Nouman in the vicinity of Idlib. The military developments triggered city-wide celebrations in Aleppo on February 18, followed by a televised victory speech by President Bashar Al Assad.

Aleppo City was recaptured by the Syrian and Russian armies in December 2016, but militias continued to fire mortars from the countryside, making life in the city—and airplane travel—very unsafe.

The first flight out of Aleppo will be headed to the capital Damascus, who is also witnessing revived traffic at its terminal, after years of semi-closure. Damascus International Airport currently receives flights from Dubai, Cairo, Beirut, Doha, Khartoum, Moscow, and Tehran, and according to Syrian authorities, upcoming destinations for Aleppo will include Beirut, Dubai, Cairo, Moscow, and Erevan (due to the large number of Armenian Syrians originally from Aleppo).

The Aleppo Airport has a capacity of 1.7 million passengers per year but has been shut since December 2012. For now, the only airlines that will be doing business with Aleppo Airport will be Syrian Arab Airways, Cham Wings, Iran Air, and the Russian national carrier, Aeroflot.

Source SANA