Jordan officials hold talks in Syria on resuming flights

Civil aviation officials from Jordan visited Damascus on Wednesday (January 23rd) to discuss plans to reopen Syrian airspace to its commercial flights, AFP reported, in another sign that the country's war is winding down.

Their mission was "to examine technical issues around the possibility of Jordanian commercial flights resuming their use of Syrian airspace", said Haitham Mistu, the head of Jordan's civil aviation authority.

Before the conflict broke out in 2011, national carrier Royal Jordanian operated two flights a day to Syria -- one to Damascus and one to the northern city of Aleppo.

In July 2012, it suspended the services as an anti-government uprising escalated into full-blown war, placing air traffic at risk.

But Mistu told Jordan's official Petra news agency that Wednesday's meetings were part of a risk assessment programme, to be followed by a technical evaluation.

"Based on that evaluation, the appropriate technical decision will be taken," he said, without giving any timeframe.

Jordan reopened its key Jaber-Nassib border crossing with Syria in October.

On Tuesday, the foreign ministry announced it had decided to appoint a chargé d'affaires at the Jordanian embassy in Damascus.

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