DARREN SHANNON / WASHINGTON DC & ALEXANDER CAMPBELL / LONDON
Royal Jordanian is to operate the first commercial flight to Iraq for over a decade, after the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) approved seven carriers to serve Basra.
Royal Jordanian will fly two weekly flights from its Amman base from 27 August, and the other carriers - British Airways, Emirates, Gulf Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Qatar Airways and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) - have initial rights to operate one weekly service. Fifteen airlines await permission to serve Basra.
Most should be granted this right on 3 September, when the CPA is expected to allocate a second daily schedule into the city, or one week later, when a third daily slot will be granted. Most major international carriers are withholding applications to serve Basra, preferring to wait until Baghdad airport reopens, according to the CPA official. However, "security concerns" still remain in the capital - particularly around the airport's perimeter.
SAS chief operating officer Sören Belin says there are restrictions on the operation to Iraq: "We cannot spend more than 2h on the ground and we cannot refuel there." He adds: "There is a lot of UN traffic, and this is always high yield."
Source: Flight International
