note
National airline of Syria was formed by the government in 1946. First operations were domestic on Damascus - Aleppo and Der Alzour Kamishli route. Airline soon expanded its network to include Beirut, Jerusalem and Cairo. In 1952 was surplus Douglas DC-3s joined the fleet. In 1957 first Douglas DC-6 (secondhand from United Arab Airlines) joined the fleet. In 1961 Syrian Airways and Misrair of Egypt formed United Arab Airlines. This alliance, however lasted only a year. In 1964 Syrianair introduced international routes to Paris, London, Karachi and Delhi. Syrianair's first jet was Sud Caravelle of which first was delivered in October 1967. The same year Syrianair became member of IATA. In 1975 last piston airliner Douglas DC-6 was retired and Syrianair became all jet airline. Syrianair has also become one a handful of airlines to operate Boeing 747SP aircraft, enabling it to fly ultra-long haul flights. First Boeing 747SP arrived in May 1976 and Syrianair still used them on regular service routes as recently as summer 2008, being the only commercial airline to do so. Syrianair, because of political considerations, also ordered Soviet airliners - namely Tupolev Tu-134s and Ilyushin IL-76 in Cargo configuration. Syrianair serves domestic market and dense regional network throughout the Middle East. European capitals including Moscow, Prague, Sofia and Budapest were served. Syrianair long-haul network includes Karachi, New Delhi, Mumbai and Khartoum, Casablanca, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.On 23 July 2012, as the Syrian conflict continued the European Union imposed a new wave of sanctions on Syria, which included sanctions on SyrianAir. The sanctions meant that the airline cannot make flights to the EU, or buy any new aircraft which contain European parts. As a result Syrian Air was forced to suspend all its operations to the EU.
founded - demised (age)
December 1946 - present (79years)
headquarters
, Damascus
web
base airports
related operators
current /stored fleet (17)
