Bahrain’s Gulf Air resumes flights to Iraq
16/08/2012 21:15
ERBIL, Aug. 16 (AKnews) – Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air will resume flights to Iraq in September, the Bahrain News Agency reported Wednesday.
Gulf Air’s Iraq destinations include capital Baghdad, Najaf, Basra and the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Erbil.
The carrier airliner is expected to launch its first Iraq flights on September 20 subject to final approval from the Iraqi civil aviation authorities.
Gulf
Air CEO Samer Majali has said, “We are glad to be resuming our operations to
Iran and Iraq. I am sure this will be a welcoming news for thousands of
Iranians and Iraqis living and working in Bahrain and the GCC countries as well
as the business community for whom the direct flights will be a great
advantage.”
“We were the first and only full-service GCC carrier to operate into Baghdad
back in 1976. Again, we were the first carrier to restart our operations in
2009, which received overwhelming support from travellers with most of our
flights flying to full capacity. However we had to suspend the flights in 2011
due to unavoidable circumstances but were confident that we will resume our
operations soon. I am glad the time has come and we look forward to the same
support from our customers.”
The first Gulf Air flight to Iraq is scheduled for Sept. 20 directly from capital Manama to Najaf Airport. Baghdad, Erbil and Basra will see their first Gulf Air flights on Sept. 21, 23, and Oct. 29 respectively.
The airliner will start with four weekly flights for each of Erbil and Najaf airports with plans to increase the number of flights to Erbil and Najaf as of Oct. 28 and Dec. 1 respectively.
The Gulf Air will also launch five weekly flights to Baghdad, in addition to three weekly flights to Basra with plans to increase the Basra flights to daily as of Dec. .
RY/AKnews
