Party time at Damascus airport as international flights resume
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First direct flight from Doha in 13 years touches down amid hopes SyrianAir fleet can be restored after war. International flights resumed at Damascus airport for the first time since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, including the first direct flight from Doha in 13 years, to a party atmosphere in the arrivals hall.
![[Happy people in arrivals hall with sweets, flowers and balloons]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/df2a0ceb8d32ed498a784761184f54c8fd9c178b/0_0_4000_2400/master/4000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
One woman propped up a speaker playing a patriotic song, while two others set off green smoke flares as crowds clapped, chanted and sang. “This is the first time I came through this airport since 2005 and felt proud to be Syrian,” said one passenger, Bashar al-Hussein, originally from the Syrian city of Daraa, who said he had travelled from his current home in Dubai to Doha in order to be on the first direct flight into Damascus.
![[Happy people and balloons]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1c524770ea9a08082779041dd217210a081b35aa/0_236_4000_2400/master/4000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Qatar, a strong opponent of Assad, had halted flights 13 years previously after the uprising against his rule. The airport reopening was about more than travel, he said. Arriving at the airport under a new government, where passengers no longer felt under surveillance and staff refused to take bribes, was a new experience. “From the airport to the last door, you’d end up paying about $200,” he said. “Even people who had done nothing wrong had to pay.”.
![[Happy people mainly men and children with with new Syrian flag]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5cac2104b3d5156201374134fd1a8ff9cf284d74/0_133_4000_2400/master/4000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
In a reminder of life under Assad’s security state, he added, some passengers on his flight had learned only at passport control that the previous regime had brought charges against them. Many of the ground staff, airline workers and cabin crew for Syria’s Cham Wings and SyrianAir had returned to work, although at least one mentioned they were yet to be paid.
