Gerald Butt/NICOSIA
Regular commercial flights into Iraq should begin by the end of the year, according to the country's deputy foreign minister, Nizar Hamdoon.
Jordan, Russia and the United Arab Emirates are expected to lead the effort, while "France is also on line", says Hamdoon. The number of airliners flying into Iraq in defiance of a United Nations ban has increased significantly.
Royal Jordanian began a weekly charter service from Amman to Baghdad on 1 December using an A310, although the aircraft type may vary. Passengers buying tickets ($150 each way) have to show that they are flying to Iraq for humanitarian reasons. Jordanian Transport Ministry under-secretary Alaa Batayneh says: "Our objective is to resume regular commercial air links with Baghdad."
Iraq hopes that Jordanian's new operation would eventually turn de facto into a commercial service. "It looks as though everybody is waiting for someone else to start regular flights to Baghdad," says Hamdoon. Last October, Russia's Vnukovo Airlines became the first carrier to begin regular flights to Baghdad since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the imposition of UN sanctions, when it started weekly charter services from Moscow.
In a further sign of Iraq's determination to end the flight ban, the country's deputy president and deputy prime minister recently flew to India and Syria on foreign visits. Since the embargo, Iraqi officials have had to leave the country by land.
Source: Flight International
