Dubai’s flydubai will launch daily non-stop flights to Aleppo from July 20, resuming service to the Syrian city after nearly 14 years, the carrier said on July 10.
The route lands as Syria’s rehabilitation gathers pace, with Washington moving to lift the country’s terrorism designation and European governments restoring engagement, opening a market that carriers had abandoned during the conflict.
Aleppo becomes flydubai’s second Syrian destination alongside Damascus, according to the airline. The service will operate from Terminal 3 at Dubai International, with flight FZ 1191 departing at 11:00 and arriving at 13:40, and FZ 1192 returning at 14:40 to land at 19:20, all local time.
“We are pleased to resume our operations to Aleppo after nearly 14 years of halted operations,” said flydubai chief executive Ghaith Al Ghaith. He said the daily service catered to strong existing demand for direct travel while fostering economic, cultural and familial ties between the UAE and Syria.
Aleppo represents a market with demand from regional business travel, visiting friends and relatives, and cargo transport, the carrier said, providing a link for the Syrian diaspora in the UAE and wider Gulf.
“Since resuming our flights to Damascus last summer, we have been encouraged by the strong demand for travel on this route,” said chief commercial officer Hamad Obaidalla, adding that the launch came at an ideal time to support summer demand.
flydubai became the first UAE carrier to operate a daily Dubai-Damascus service on June 1, 2025, and now serves the capital three times daily. Return business class fares from Dubai start at AED8,000 ($2,180) and economy lite fares at AED1,800 ($490). The route forms part of the flydubai and Emirates codeshare partnership.
Why it matters for the trade
The Aleppo launch is the clearest commercial signal yet that Syria is moving from a diplomatic story to a bookable one. flydubai’s Damascus route has tripled to three daily flights in a year, which is the sort of frequency growth that only comes when load factors hold, and the carrier is now backing that with a second Syrian city. For agents, the Emirates codeshare is the operative detail: through-ticketing, single-baggage check and access to the combined network mean Aleppo can be sold as a connecting destination from Europe, Asia and North America, not just as a Dubai point-to-point.
The demand profile is worth understanding before building product. This is VFR and business traffic first, with cargo capacity explicitly flagged, which tells you flydubai expects trade flows as much as passengers. The Syrian diaspora across the Gulf is the anchor market, and those passengers book direct, fly economy and travel in family groups. Leisure inbound to Aleppo is a longer game, though the city’s status as one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited settlements and its UNESCO-listed old city give it obvious heritage potential once ground infrastructure, insurance and hotel stock catch up.
For operators, the sequencing question is when specialist heritage and cultural itineraries become viable. Air access is arriving before the accommodation and ground-handling capacity, and the trade will need to watch hotel reopenings, insurance terms and government travel advisories, which remain the binding constraint on selling Syria to Western leisure clients regardless of how many flights land.