First flight in 20 years from Iraq arrives

News at Gatwick 28/04/2010

Strike action to cause flight disruptions : April 2010 : BA prepares itself for more strikes

Gatwick welcomed Flight IA237

Iraqi government officials are hoping that despite the current situation in Iraq, the level of tourism from western countries such as the UK will improve in the near future. Flights from Baghdad have begun to take off for Gatwick, 20 years after the last one made its last journey. Sanctions were imposed after the invasion by Saddam Hussein in 1990.

The first flight to touch down on British soil was operated by Iraqi Airlines on the 25th April, having made a scheduled stop in Sweden where it went through additional security checks before being allowed to enter British airspace. The flight will operate directly from Bagdad to London twice weekly. The 10 hours flights’ arrival had been delayed by the volcanic ash situation, the flights will go via Malmo and fly non stop to Baghdad on their return.

Iraq still welcomes around one million tourists from other Middle Easter countries; it will need to improve its tourism infrastructure if it is to accelerate the return of Westerners to its tourist attractions such as the Garden of Eden and Babylon. The overall number of air routes from Iraq and other countries worldwide has increased from 18 to 26 in the past 18 months. Other countries increasing their routes to Iraq include Germany and Austria.

Strike action to cause flight disruptions : April 2010 : BA prepares itself for more strikes

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