GERALD BUTT / NICOSIA
Continuing security problems in Iraq have prompted the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to postpone plans to reopen Basra International Airport to regular commercial traffic. The first services since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 had been expected at the end of August. The CPA says: "We decided to delay the opening while we examine security and transport arrangements."
Royal Jordanian had been set to operate the first commercial flight into Basra for 13 years on 28 August with a twice-weekly service from Amman, but the airline says that the start of the Iraq service has been postponed until further notice. Gulf Air announced that while its staff had "finished the ground work on the logistics, security and ground-handling facilities at Basra airport" and was ready to start a weekly service on 1 September, the operation was on hold pending the approval of the CPA. Emirates, too, said it was ready to operate into Basra once security issues had been resolved. Qatar Airways was hoping to reschedule the start of its weekly Doha-Basra flights to 6 September.
LOT Polish Airlines is hoping to begin services on 17 September and SAS by the end of the month.
Source: Flight International
