A New Corridor Opens
Syria has opened a new air corridor, designated L602, over the east of the country near Deir ez-Zor. The civil aviation authority approved the route after months of technical studies, flight simulations, and coordination with neighboring states and international bodies.
The corridor adds capacity to airspace that had largely emptied during years of conflict. The approval followed sustained coordination with international aviation organizations, which had to sign off on the route before traffic could use it.
Traffic Rebounds
Overflights have risen sharply through 2026. The authority recorded 11,801 flights in May, compared with 4,267 in February. The new corridor alone handled 2,188 transits through the evening of 18 September 2026.
Each flight that crosses controlled airspace is subject to transit fees, a source of foreign-currency earnings for the state.
Upgrading Navigation
On 24 September 2026, the authority completed the calibration and testing of instrument landing and navigation systems at Damascus and Aleppo international airports. The upgrades allow those airports to operate around the clock, removing a limit that had kept some flights on daytime schedules.
Regional Coordination
A second phase of airspace work began on 28 September 2026 with the participation of international aviation organizations and neighboring countries including Turkey, Iraq, and Bulgaria, with Saudi Arabia later joining. On 30 September 2026, the authority said it had begun receiving requests from carriers in several Asian countries to use Syrian airspace.
Revenue Still Unquantified
No figure has been published for the fees collected or expected from the reopened routes. The authority has described transit income only in general terms, leaving the scale of the revenue recovery unclear for now. The interest expressed by carriers in several Asian countries points to demand for routes that cross Syrian territory rather than detour around it.