Etihad Airways is doubling down on Syria. From 14 November 2026, the Abu Dhabi carrier will fly to Damascus every day, up from the four flights a week it has run since launching the route in June. The airline says demand from both sides of the Gulf route has been strong enough to justify the quick upgrade to a daily schedule.
The route matters most for the large Syrian community in the UAE, many of whom have spent years working and raising families there. A daily flight turns a trip home from something to be planned weeks ahead into a realistic long weekend, and gives business travellers far more flexibility on timing. Etihad's Chief Revenue & Commercial Officer, Arik De, framed it as the natural next step after a launch that impressed the airline from the first flight.
There's a wider network play here too. Damascus sits one stop from Etihad's entire map out of Abu Dhabi — Muscat and the Maldives on one side, North America on the other, including New York, Charlotte and the Canadian cities Toronto and Calgary. Calgary joins the Etihad network on 25 October as the airline's newest Canadian destination, which matters for Syrians in Canada who want a straightforward way back.
For travellers coming the other way, the story is more intriguing. Syria has been largely off the leisure map for over a decade, and a daily Gulf connection is the kind of infrastructure that precedes a return. Damascus rewards the patient visitor: a walled Old City, the Umayyad Mosque among the most significant in the Arab world, and centuries of history as a crossroads of trade and scholarship. Anyone booking the route via Abu Dhabi can also break the journey — Etihad's Stopover programme makes it easy to add a night or two at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the Saadiyat Cultural District museums or the Gulf beaches.
Who should care: diaspora travellers booking family visits will feel the benefit first, with twice the flight choice from November 2026. Business travellers moving between the UAE and Syria get same-day options that a four-weekly schedule couldn't offer. And for the more adventurous, this is one to watch — improved air links often signal a destination opening up, though anyone considering leisure travel to Syria should check their own government's current travel advice carefully before committing. As ever, book via etihad.com for the full schedule.
