Iraqi Airways

Iraqi Airways
IATA ICAO Callsign
IA IAW IRAQI
Founded 1945
Commenced operations 28 January 1946
Focus cities
Fleet size 31[1]
Destinations 38
Parent company Iraqi Government
Headquarters Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq
Key people Saad Al-Khafaji (CEO)
Website www.iraqiairways.com.iq

Iraqi Airways Company, operating as Iraqi Airways[2] (Arabic: الخطوط الجوية العراقية Al-Khuṭūṭ al-Jawwiyyah al-`Irāqiyyah), is the national carrier of Iraq, headquartered on the grounds of Baghdad International Airport in Baghdad.[3][4] One of the oldest airlines in the Middle East, Iraqi Airways operates domestic and regional service. Its main base is Baghdad International Airport.[5]

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

In 2015, Iraqi Airways was included in the list of aircraft carriers banned in the European Union.

History

Iraqi Airways Vickers Viscount 735 at London Heathrow Airport in 1962 when operating the schedule from Baghdad
Iraqi Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident1E landing at Athens Hellenikon Airport in 1973
An Iraqi Airways Boeing 747-200C at London Heathrow Airport in 1983.
Boeing originally belonging to Iraqi Airways waiting in Tozeur for a settlement with Kuwait since 1990.
An Iraqi Airways Boeing 737-200 Advanced at Prague Ruzyne Airport in 2004.
An Iraqi Airways building in Amman, Jordan.
An Iraqi Government Boeing 747SP operated by Iraqi Airways at Andrews Air Force Base in 1989.
An Iraqi Airways Boeing 737-200 taxiing in front of the control tower at Baghdad International Airport in 2008.

Early 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 Viscounts entered service in 1955 and operated all of Iraqi Airways' international services including a new route to London with intermediate stops. On 1 April 1960 the airline became independent from the railway company and in 1961 it placed an order for two Boeing 720Bs for delivery in 1964, but 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.

Later History

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.[6] 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. Two aircraft (a 747-200C and a 747SP) were flown to Tozeur–Nefta International Airport, Tunisia, where they remain parked.

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.[5]

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

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Livery

In 2008 Iraqi Airways introduced a new blue colour livery, replacing the previous green shades associated with Saddam-era, the new scheme was applied to a single Bombardier CRJ only,[28] later on one other CRJ received the former green livery, apparently reverting to the previous look. However, in 2012 Iraqi Airways adopted a new green livery which is now being applied fleet wide.[29]

Destinations

Fleet

An Iraqi Airways Airbus A321-200 in a temporary livery landing at Gatwick Airport, London, England. (2013)
An Iraqi Airways Airbus A330-200 in a temporary livery taxiing at Frankfurt Airport, Germany. (2013)
An Iraqi Airways Boeing 737-700 at Moscow-Vnukovo, Russia partially wearing the previous operators, airTran livery. (2013)
An Iraqi Airways Boeing 747-400 in the new livery landing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia. (2014)
An Iraqi Airways Boeing 777-200LR in a hybrid livery taxiing at Frankfurt Airport, Germany. (2013)

The Iraqi Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of May 2015):[1]

Iraqi Airways Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Options Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Airbus A320-200 3 0 180 180
Airbus A321-200 2 0 220 220
Airbus A330-200 1 24 264 288
Boeing 737-700 2 12 125 137
Boeing 737-800 12 20 10 12 150 162 One operated by Air Explore to all European destinations
1 75 0 75 Operated for Government of Iraq
Boeing 747-400 2 74 338 412 One operated for the Government of Iraq
Boeing 767-300ER 2 18 221 239
Boeing 777-200LR 1 14 350 364
Boeing 787-8 10 5 TBA Entry in 2019
Bombardier CRJ-900LR 6 0 90 90
Bombardier CS300 5 11 12 140 152 Entry in 2016[30]
Total 31 30 26

Iraqi Airways Boeing customer code is '70' meaning that any Boeing aircraft ordered directly from Boeing for 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.

Modernization

Iraqi Airways has placed firm orders for 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which will be used to reintroduce long-haul flights from 2019. These orders might be changed to Boeing 777s to make up the delays.

Iraqi Airways began to modernize their fleet in 2008:

Retired Fleet

Retired Fleets of Iraqi Airways
Aircraft Type Fleet Notes
Airbus A300B4-203 1 Operated for Govt. of Iraq
Airbus A300-600RF 3 Leased/operated by RUS Aviation
Antonov An-12BP 3 Cargo Aircraft
Antonov An-24 7
Boeing 707-320C 6
Boeing 720-051B 1[40]
Boeing 727-200 15 Some of fleet were destroyed in Iran–Iraq War
Boeing 737-200 11
Boeing 737-300 1 Leased
Boeing 737-400 3 Leased/operated by East Air
Boeing 747-200C 4
Boeing 747-200F 1 Leased/operated by The Cargo Airlines
Boeing 747SP 2 Some of fleet were destroyed in Iran–Iraq War
Boeing 757-200 5
Boeing 767-200 4
Ilyushin Il-76MD 15 Cargo Aircraft
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 7
Tupolev Tu-124V 3
Tupolev Tu-134 7
Lockheed L-1329 Jetstar 4
de Havilland Dove 2
de Havilland Dragon Rapide 2
Fokker 70 4
Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident 1E 3
Vickers VC.1 Viking 5
Vickers Viscount 4

Five Airbus A310-200 were seized from Kuwait Airways fleet in 1990 and re-registered in Iraq as part of Iraqi Airways, however these never flew.[41]

They had also ordered five Airbus A310-300 in the late 1980s but war related sanctions prevented Iraq from taking delivery. 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 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;[42]

References

  1. 1 2 http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/Iraqi-Airways
  2. Arab Air Carriers Organization Archived 23 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. "Iraqi Airways Office in Baghdad." Iraqi Airways. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  4. "Iraqi Airways." Arab Air Carriers Organization. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
  5. 1 2 "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 3 April 2007. p. 94.
  6. "Iraqi 'fronts' listed." Associated Press at The Pittsburgh Press. Tuesday 2 April 1991. Volume 107, No. 279. A1. Retrieved from Google News Page 1 of 18; 20 May 2010.
  7. Iraqi Airways to Sweden!. Thelocal.se (30 December 2008).
  8. Iraqi Airways to relaunch London-Stansted. Ttglive.com (22 June 2009).
  9. Iraqi Airways resumes Bahrain. Gulf-daily-news.com (3 September 2009).
  10. Iraqi Airways resumes Doha. Google.com (11 September 2009).
  11. Iraqi Airways applies for flights to Malmö, Sweden. Translate.google.co.uk.
  12. Scheduled flights between Najaf and Karachi to start next week. Iraqupdates.com.
  13. Blue Wings is flying directly to Baghdad (German Only). Die Welt.
  14. Iraqi Airways to start Malmö, Sweden. Aknews.com.
  15. Bumpy landing for Iraq's first flight. Ifw-net.com (31 July 2008).
  16. Iraqi Airways maiden flight to London turns into nightmare. Canada.com.
  17. McElroy, Damien. (1 May 2010) First flight from Baghdad to London in 20 years ends in farce with plane impounded. The Daily Telegraph.
  18. Iraq to dissolve Iraqi Airways - Middle East. Al Jazeera English.
  19. Iraqi Airlines flight to land at Mumbai airport after 22 years - Mumbai - DNA. Dnaindia.com (28 April 2012).
  20. Iraq to deliver Boeing jets by end of 2012 | Finance. AKNEWS.com.
  21. Iraq to get 40 Boeing planes. TwoCircles.net.
  22. . Airbus.com
  23. http://www.thelocal.se/20150805/iraqi-airline-banned-by-swedish-authorities
  24. http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/39450-iraqi-airways-banned-from-europes-airspace
  25. http://www.ia.gov.iq/index.php?name=PortalNews&file=article&sid=529
  26. http://www.ia.gov.iq/index.php?name=PortalNews&file=article&sid=531
  27. http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2015/08/14/iraqi-airways-banned-from-eu-aerovista-provides-support/
  28. Iraqi Airways CRJ-900 in the experimental new livery of 2008
  29. Iraqi Airways new livery on their first 737-800
  30. Gregory Polek (2 January 2014). "Bombardier Seals CSeries Deal with Iraqi Airways". AINonline.com.
  31. Iraqi Airways signs contract worth $2.2 billion with Boeing. Boeing.com (5 May 2008).
  32. Iraqi Airways signs contract worth $398 million with Bombardier. Bombardier.com (6 May 2008).
  33. Kuwait Airways files lawsuit against Bombardier Archived 13 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  34. Lawsuit is settled with Iraqi paying $300 million
  35. "Turkish Technic signs deal for Iraq". Hürriyet Daily News. 8 September 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
  36. Airbus in talks with Iraqi Airways. Reuters.com.
  37. Iraqi Airways to lease 20 aircraft from Ross Aviation
  38. Iraqi Airways gains another 3 CRJ-900ER's (Arabic) Archived 7 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  39. Iraqi Airways major fleet plans. Aviationweek.com (18 February 2010).
  40. http://www.planelogger.com/Aircraft/View?Registration=G-AZFB&DeliveryDate=15.09.71
  41. Kuwait Airways A310 listed as part of Iraqi fleet
  42. Iraqi Airways incidents and accidents. Aviation-safety.net (4 March 2012).

41 http://www.arabianaerospace.aero/iraqi-airways-launch-two-new-routes-from-manchester-airport.html 42 http://www.arabaero.com/2743

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