Royal Jordanian suspends flights to Syria as situation worsens

As the political situation in Syria worsens with full-blown civil war, Jordan's airline Royal Jordanian (RJ) has suspended its flights to Damascus and Aleppo in Syria as of today.

The airline said that this was in light of the regression in the demand on travel to both routes due to the current situation prevailing in Syria and the developments in the last two days. In a press statement, the airline said that it will constantly study resuming its service to Damascus and Aleppo, depending on the demand.
RJ pointed out that it has also put various options to the passengers who already issued their tickets to RJ’s destinations in Syria; they can refund the tickets of the cancelled flights or revalidate them to a later date after resuming the service, both options are valid with no penalties. In addition, passengers may use the ticket value to purchase any other ticket on RJ.
Analyst Saj Ahmad commenting on the suspension said: “The deteriorating situation in Syria was always going to be the catalyst for airlines to look again at their schedules flying into the country - and with Royal Jordanian dropping services, this may well precipitate others in following them.
“While Damascus still represents arguably the most vibrancy for demand, that Royal Jordanian has elected to suspend services is largely down to cost-aware customers who prefer cheaper fares - we've not seen flydubai move out of the city and if anything, any other full service airline leaving will vacate space for growth for others, especially low cost airlines
“But as things settle down over time as was seen in Libya last year, demand will spike and airlines will resume Syrian services. That's a long way off and at present, no one can say with certainty how long such suspensions will last.”