ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - German aviation giant Lufthansa has "no plans" to restore flights to Syria, an official confirmed days after the airline met with representatives from Syria's aviation authority.
"There are currently no plans at Lufthansa to take up Damascus as a destination again," Lufthansa spokesperson Boris Ogursky told Rudaw on Friday.
Syria’s state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Tuesday that a Lufthansa delegation met with officials from the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport, including Chairman Omar Hosari, to discuss reactivating flight routes between Syria and Europe and cooperating in air transport and technical services.
Ogursky said they "usually never comment [on] any media speculation," but added if they change their plans on the resumption of flight to Syria, they will "certainly communicate and announce this."
Along with many other European Union carriers, Lufthansa suspended its regular scheduled passenger flights to Syria in 2011, during the early stages of the Syrian Civil War. The airline cited security risks that made operations unsafe for both passengers and crew.
According to SANA, the German flag carrier dispatched a technical team for a routine assessment of Damascus International Airport on May 21, a final step before resuming flights.
Since the fall of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad last December, Syria’s primary airports have resumed commercial international flight operations, ending a prolonged period of isolation.
Qatar Airways became the first international carrier to resume service in early January, ending a 13-year suspension. Around the same time, Syrian Airlines reinstated flights to Sharjah International Airport in the United Arab Emirates. By late January, both Turkish Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines had also resumed flights to Syria.
Aleppo International Airport - the country’s second major hub - resumed limited commercial operations in late March.