Airline	Iraqi Airways
Logo	Iraqi Airways Logo.svg
Logo size	270
Fleet size	21
Destinations	15
Iata	IA
Icao	IAW
Callsign	IRAQI
Parent	Iraqi Government
Founded	1945
Commenced	29 January 1949
Headquarters	Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq
Key people	Kifah H. Jabbar (CEO)
Bases	Al Najaf International AirportBaghdad International AirportBasra International AirportErbil International AirportQueen Alia International Airport
Website	iq-airways.com }}

Iraqi Airways Company, operating as Iraqi Airways (; also known as Air Iraq), is the national carrier of Iraq, headquartered on the grounds of Baghdad International Airport in Baghdad. One of the oldest airlines in the Middle East, Iraqi Airways operates domestic and regional service. Its main base is Baghdad International Airport.

Iraqi Airways is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization.

History

Iraqi Airways was founded in 1945 as a department of the Iraqi State Railways and started operating on 28 January 1946 using five De Havilland Dragon Rapides on a service to Syria. With the help of the British Overseas Airways Corporation the new airline ordered three Vickers Viking aircraft. While waiting for the Vikings to be delivered the airline leased four Douglas DC-3 aircraft from BOAC in December 1946. In 1947 it ordered the de Havilland Dove to replace the Dragon Rapides and the Doves were delivered in October 1947. The three new Vikings were delivered at the end of 1947 and the DC-3s were returned to BOAC, a fourth Viking was bought second-hand.

In 1953 the four-engined Vickers Viscount turboprop was chosen to replace the Vikings and an order for three was placed in July. The Viscount entered service in 1955 and operated all of Iraqi Airways' international services included a route to London. On 1 April 1960 the airline became independent from the railway company and in 1961 placed an order for two Boeing 720Bs for delivery in 1964, the order for Boeings was later cancelled.

In the 1960s Iraqi Airways bought Russian Tupolev Tu-124 planes as well as Hawker Siddeley Trident aircraft. These jets allowed Iraqi Airways to increase service across the Middle East, to Africa and Europe. During that time, cargo aircraft such as the Ilyushin Il-76 were also purchased. During the 1970s, Iraqi Airways needed a bigger jet for a new route to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, purchasing the Boeing 707 and, soon after, the Boeing 747.

The Iran–Iraq War did little to undermine the airline's activities.

The United States banned Americans from traveling on Iraqi Airways after the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait. In addition the U.S. government accused the Iraqi Airways offices in the United States of being front companies for Saddam Hussein's government. Since Iraq's invasion in 1990 of Kuwait, Iraqi Airways was grounded by the United Nations' sanctions against the country. Iraqi Airways had 17 jets, all of which were moved to secret locations, mainly in Jordan (some were parked on the aprons of Amman's Queen Alia International Airport where they still stand today).

Attempts were made to restart domestic services in May 1991 and permission was granted by the UN for the operation of helicopters on limited domestic services. Fixed-wing flights were banned under the ceasefire terms, although the UN Security Council agreed to the resumption of domestic flights. These restarted in January 1992 from Baghdad to Basra using Antonov An-24 aircraft. Operations were suspended shortly after, following a UN ruling.

However, domestic flights became a rarity too, because of the No-Fly Zone imposed by the United States and United Kingdom over Iraqi skies. On occasions, Iraqi Airways would also fly pilgrims to Muslim religious cities throughout the 1990s.

Revival

After the War in Iraq, on 30 May 2003, Iraqi Airways announced plans to resume international services. The rights to the Iraqi Airways name was transferred to a new and separate company called Iraqi Airways Company which would build a new airline and protect it from the legal problems related to the regime of Saddam Hussein. Operations restarted on 3 October 2004 with a flight between Baghdad and Amman.

Iraqi Airways operated the first domestic commercial scheduled service since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime from Baghdad to Basra, with 100 passengers in a Boeing 727-200, on 4 June 2005. On 6 November 2005, Iraqi Airways operated a flight from Baghdad to Tehran, Iran, for the first time in twenty-five years. The aircraft, as with the rest of the fleet, was operated on its behalf by Teebah Airlines of Jordan. Services to Arbil and Sulaymaniyah were added in summer 2005.

2009

In March 2009, Iraqi Airways began its first flights to Sweden in almost nineteen years. The flight is operated Baghdad-Athens-Stockholm by a Boeing 737-300 leased from Seagle Air.

On 22 June 2009, it was revealed that Iraqi Airways had struck a deal with British aviation authorities to resume direct Baghdad-London (Gatwick) flights; the flights were supposed to begin on 8 August 2009 using a Boeing 737-400 leased from Tor Air and should eventually get the Airbus A320-232 operating the route; this has failed to happen and there has been no news since. They intend on a bigger expansion into the UK and Europe.

On 3 September 2009, Iraqi Airways resumed flights to Bahrain with a ceremony at Bahrain International Airport.

On 11 September 2009, Iraqi Airways resumed flights to Doha, Qatar from Baghdad and Najaf after a eighteen year break.

On 30 October 2009, Iraqi Airways revealed that they have applied for rights to fly to Malmö, Sweden. They expect flights to begin shortly.

On 10 October 2009, Iraqi Airways resumed flights to Karachi, Pakistan.

On 30 October 2009, Iraqi Airways started seasonal (Hajj) flights to Jeddah according to their website schedules.

During November 2009, Blue Wings, a German airline, began operating flights to Düsseldorf and Frankfurt, Germany on behalf of Iraqi Airways. Germany is now the second European country, after Greece (now suspended) and Sweden served by Iraqi Airways since the Iraq war.

On 28 November 2009, Iraqi Airways commenced flights between Baghdad and Malmö, Sweden via Erbil.

At the end of 2009, Iraqi Airways relaunched their new website. The new website has an updated fleet page, flight schedules, destinations map, news section, flight information and other things. The site also says that Iraqi Airways will relaunch flights to London Heathrow with 3 weekly flights.

2010

On 13 January 2010, Blue Wings ceased operations causing all flights operating for Iraqi Airways to be suspended. They now operate Frankfurt with a leased Boeing 737-400.

On 25 April 2010, Iraqi Airways launched flights to London Gatwick Airport via Malmö, Sweden. The flights are operated twice weekly by a Boeing 737-400 aircraft. When the first flight landed at London, a Kuwaiti lawyer had the General Director, Kifah Hassan's documents and passport seized as well as the plane seized too, this however failed as the plane is owned by Swedish company, Tor Air. The plane returned to Baghdad. However, Kifah Hassan was not allowed to leave the United Kingdom and went up in court on 30 April. Kuwaiti officials demanded £780 million for the planes stolen by Saddam Hussein in the 1990 invasion.

On 26 May 2010, Amer Abdul-Jabbar, Iraq's transport minister, said the cabinet had decided on Tuesday to dissolve the company over the next three years and pursue private options to avoid asset claims made by Kuwait over their 1990-91 war.

2011

In early May 2011, the Middle East Economic Digest reported that an Iraqi Airways source confirmed a "very high level" decision to stop IAC's dissolution.

Livery

In May 2011, the Middle East Economic Digest reported that a new blue livery had been announced for IAC, replacing the previous colors, associated with the Saddam-era.

Prior to May 2011, the airline's livery consisted of an all white airplane's belly, with a green cheatline and an aqua green scheme covering the top of their planes. The aqua colour ran all the way to the end of the planes' tails. The tail logo consisted of a green bird inside a white circle, with the name Iraqi Airways inscribed just below the circle, in white colour and in Arabic. The same title was also inscribed over the passenger windows on the front part of the fuselage, using the same colour but written in English.

Destinations

Iraqi Airways serves 5 domestic and 12 international destinations in 10 different countries on 3 different continents.

Fleet

Iraqi Airways Boeing customer code is '70' meaning that any Boeing aircraft ordered directly from Iraqi would have 70 in it. For example, the Boeing 737-800's that are on order will be 'Boeing 737-870' and so on.

The Iraqi Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of June 2011):

At April 2010, the average fleet age of the Iraqi Airways fleet was 9.9 years.

Modernization

Iraqi Airways began to modernize their fleet in 2009;

In May 2008, the Iraqi government signed a $2.2 billion contract with Boeing for 30 Boeing 737-800 with an option for an additional 10. They are also working on a deal involving the order of ten Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft which would allow for long range service but the contract has not been finalized. Another contract worth $398 million was signed for 10 CRJ-900ER aircraft with ten options from the aircraft manufacturer Bombardier. The first CRJ-900ER was delivered in October, 2008. This resulted in a lawsuit against Bombardier by Kuwait Airways. Kuwait claims to have won $1.2 billion dollars in judgments against Iraqi Airways as a result of the Gulf War. The Canadian judge ruled that he did not have jurisdiction because the case involved a foreign government since the purchaser of the aircraft is the government of Iraq not Iraqi Airways. The lawsuit by Kuwait Airways has since been settled in 2009 with Iraq agreeing to pay $300 million dollars.

In December 2008, Iraqi Airways started to use 2 Boeing 737-300's leased from Seagle Air.

In January 2009, Iraqi Airways received an Airbus A320-200 leased from Jordan Aviation.

In February 2009, Iraqi Airways received two Boeing 737-700's from AirTran Airways. They will be maintained by THY Technic the maintenance division of Turkish Airlines.

In March 2009, Iraqi Airways returned the Airbus A320-200. It also received a purchased Boeing 737-200 from Teebah Airlines and received a Boeing 737-300 from United Airlines.

In April 2009, Iraqi Airways returned one Boeing 737-200 leased from Tajik Air.

In May 2009, Iraqi Airways returned one of the Boeing 737-300's leased from Seagle Air.

In June 2009, Iraqi Airways returned the last Boeing 737-300 leased from Seagle Air.

In July 2009, Airbus revealed that they are going to aim to sell some of their products to Iraqi Airways, the specific types have not yet been revealed as it is only talks to get the company to purchase Airbus aircraft to replace the all Boeing and Bombardier fleet. They have also received another Boeing 737-200 and a Boeing 737-400 leased from Tor Air. They have also announced that they have signed a contract for twenty aircraft to be leased from Ross Aviation, a company based in Colorado, United States of America. The aircraft types have not yet been announced.

In November 2009, Iraqi Airways had a Boeing 747-200B operated by Hellenic Imperial Airways join the fleet.

On 23 December 2009, 3 Bombardier CRJ-900ER's arrived at Baghdad International Airport, Iraq. This delivery raises the total delivered so far to 4 out of 10 ordered by the airline. In February 2010, Iraqi Airways returned the Boeing 747-200B operated by Hellenic Imperial Airways. The airline also announced major fleet plans, these plans include; 10 of the 30 orders for the Boeing 737-800 to be swapped to additional wide bodies as well as bringing the delivery date forward to September 2011, changing the 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliner orders to Boeing 777 aircraft, 10 Bombardier CRJ-900ER's by mid 2010, and to lease a Boeing 757-200 for flights to London, England.

Historic

Iraqi Airways fleet was composed of mostly Boeing aircraft ordered during 1970s and served with the carrier until the 1990 ban on air travel. Until 2003, some of these aircraft were stored in Amman, Beirut, Tunis and Tehran because of the Gulf War and ban on air travel in Iraq. However, some airworthy aircraft operated a few Hajj flights during the 1990s. After the 2004 re-organization, several restored Boeing 727s and Boeing 737s, in addition to leased Boeing 767-200 aircraft, operated flights for the carrier.

1970-2003 fleet

Antonov An-24

Boeing 707-300

Boeing 727-200

Boeing 737-200 (1 still in service)

Boeing 747-200C

Boeing 747SP

Ilyushin Il-76

Post 2003 that have since been phased out

Airbus A320-211

Boeing 757-200

Boeing 767-200

Five Airbus A310-300 were also ordered in the late 1980s but war related sanctions prevented Iraq from receiving them and they were never delivered. In July 2008, Airbus sales chief John Leahy ordered the deal removed from its backlog in response to an inquiry from Reuters about the long-forgotten deal at the 2008 Farnborough Airshow.

Incidents and accidents

Iraqi Airways is one of the oldest and safest airlines in the Middle East, the last fatal incident occurred on 25 December 1986. The airline has had the following incidents, accidents and hijackings with a fatality count of around 70 since they began operations in 1945 and ceased in 2010;

On 10 October 1955, a Vickers 644 Viking 1B overran the runway at Baghdad and crashed into a ditch where it caught fire. All nineteen passengers and crew survived, but the aircraft was written off.

On 19 March 1965, a Vickers 773 Viscount crashed into a row of lamp posts at Cairo after a flight from Baghdad. All passengers and crew survived, but the aircraft was written off.

On 17 April 1973, a Vickers 735 Viscount performed a belly landing at Mousil International Airport after fuel exhaustion. All thirty three passengers and crew survived, but the aircraft was written off.

On 1 March 1975, a Boeing 737-200 flying from Mosul to Baghdad was hijacked by three hijackers. There was one death onboard.

On 23 September 1980, a Ilyushin 76 cargo aircraft flying from Paris to Baghdad crashed whilst on approach to Saddam International Airport. It is believed the aircraft was shot down by Iranian fighter jets. It as also believed all crew members died.

On 24 September 1980, an Antonov 24TV was destroyed by heavy fire whilst on the ground Kirkuk Airport. There were reports of heavy fire in the area during 24 September.

On 22 April 1982, an Antonov 24B crashed whilst on approach to an Iraqi airfield. The left wing hit the ground causing the plane to crash. It is believed all crew members died.

On 28 August 1982, an Antonov 24TV undercarriage collapsed on take-off from Nasiriyah Airport. All onboard survived but the aircraft was written off.

On 16 September 1984, Iraqi Airways Flight 123, a Boeing 737-270C flying from Larnaca to Baghdad was hijacked by three hijackers. The three hijackers were killed whilst the rest of the passengers and crew survived.

On 25 December 1986, Iraqi Airways Flight 163, a Boeing 737-270C flying from Baghdad to Amman experienced a hijack attempt whilst flying over Saudi Arabia. Four hijackers tried to enter the cockpit whilst flying at FL260. Two explosions went off resulting in a crash near Arar, Saudi Arabia killing Sixty three of the one hundred and six onboard.

During the Gulf War, two Iraqi Airways Tupolev Tu-124V were destroyed by U.S. bombs.

References

External links

Iraqi Airways United Kingdom

Iraqi Airways - Ministry of Transportation

Iraqi Airways

Category:Iraqi Airways Category:Airlines of Iraq Category:Arab Air Carriers Organization members Category:Airlines established in 1946 Category:Former IATA members Category:Government-owned airlines Category:Government of Iraq

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