Syrian Arab Airlines was earlier known as Syrian Air, is now the flag carrier and national airline of Syria.
This airline provides both, domestic and international services to a limited extend within West Asia. The main base of Syrian Arab Airline is Damascus International Airport, Syria.
The airliner operates with a fleet of around 25 aircrafts over 51 destinations including domestic and international. Syrian Arab Airline is fully owned by the Syrian government having employee strength of around 5500.
Syrian Arab Airline is the member of AACO (Arab Air Carriers Organization) and has codeshare agreement with various airlines including Royal Jordanian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Saudi Arabian and Yemeni Airlines.
The history of Syrian Arab Airlines was started in 1946 when its predecessor Syrian Airway was formed. In the initial stages, there were no planes, only helicopters were used for domestic and international flights.
In 1961, realizing the need of having a full fledged airline for the country, the Syrian government established Syrian Airways.
This airline completely revamped its fleets with Caravel Jet aircrafts and started services to Munich and Rome.
After the Revolution, the Syrian airline underwent major expansion including increasing its fleet. It upgraded its fleets with Boeing Jumbo jets 747-SP and 727-200. However, the expansion program faced severe crises when the US led sanctions were imposed on Syria.
In 1970, Syrian Arab Airline inducted several Russian made planes including Antonov An-26, Yakovlev Yak 40 and Ilyushin IL 76, Tupolev TU-154M, TU-134B.
During 1978, Syrian Airline entered an agreement with Royal Jordanian Airlines to start services to New York. In 2009, Syrian Airline further expanded its fleets to induct modern aircrafts such as Airbus A320, McDonald Douglas MD 11 and the present fleet strength is 25 aircrafts.
Syrian Arab Airline flights cover around 51 destinations around the world including Middle East, Europe, North America and Central Asia.
The countries falling under Syrian Arab Airlines network are Russia, Armenia, Cyprus, Romania, Greece, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Egypt and United Kingdom.
This airline offers schedule flights to almost all Middle East destinations including Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and UAE. The African destinations include Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Algeria.
Syrian Arab airline operates its schedule flights to Delhi and Mumbai in India and is one of the few international airlines in India offering connections to West Asia.
