Exclusive: Iran war hands Syria windfall as airlines reroute over its airspace

Syria’s airspace saw a sharp rebound in May as regional airlines rerouted around conflict-affected routes, with 11,801 flights crossing Syrian skies—more than double February’s 4,267 and about 375% higher than the same month last year. The rebound follows an April ceasefire that reopened airspace, though many international carriers still avoid the region and Gulf carriers are leading the resumed traffic. A flat $499 per-flight overflight fee introduced by Syria could have generated up to $5.9 million in May, Reuters calculations show. Damascus International Airport has received upgraded radar and navigation systems from Turkey, but OPSGroup still classifies the airspace as high risk and operates with procedural control only, limiting traffic to a subset of carriers.