SYRIA: Government Looks To Resurrect Palmyra Airport

PALMYRA, Syria

• Syria's General Authority for Civil Aviation and Air Transport (GACA) plans to transform what remains of the military airfield at Palmyra (PMS/OSPR), located in central Syria, into a civilian facility aimed at driving tourism to the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Omar Al-Hasri, the head of GACA, accompanied by Culture Minister Mohammad Yasin Saleh, Tourism Minister Mazen Al-Salhani and Homs Governor Marhaf Al-Naasan, conducted a field visit to Palmyra airport.

• The visit assessed the airport's status and requirements to convert it from a military to a civilian tourism-focused airport.
• Al-Hasri told “Syria Now” that the initial vision foresees putting the airport into service within a period ranging between 6 months and a year “in a good way,” but what takes longer is the accreditation of the airport internationally, and technical issues such as navigational aids and radars, to turn it into an international airport and not just a local one.

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• GACA is therefore preparing an integrated plan to convert the airport, based on a 2004 technical study by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
• GACA will update the study to match current conditions and future requirements.
• The plan aims to facilitate visitor access to Palmyra city and its historical and archaeological sites.
• Al-Hosari denied plans to convert any other military airport in Syria's Homs Governorate into a civilian airport, due to considerations related to economic feasibility, given the existence of an airport within a 200-kilometer radius, considering that Homs is located in the middle between the airports of Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia and Deir ez-Zor , and it is only about 160 kilometers away from Palmyra Airport.
• Since the fall of the Assad regime, GACA has set about renovating and reviving various decrepit airports around Syria. Aside from Damascus, it is also overseeing works at:
• Latakia Airport (LTK): Undergoing extensive terminal rehabilitation following Russia’s return of civilian infrastructure to Syrian control.
• Deir ez-Zor Airport (DEZ): Reopened for commercial flights on August 5, 2026, after a 14-year closure.
• Qamishli Airport (KAC): In final technical preparation stages to expand flight networks into northeastern Syria.

Sources:

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