IRAQ: Iraq and Saudi Arabia resume flights after 20-year hiatus

Record ID: 826738

  • Title: IRAQ: Iraq and Saudi Arabia resume flights after 20-year hiatus
  • Date: 16th July 2010
  • Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JULY 15, 2010) (REUTERS) SAUDI PRIVATELY-OWNED ALWAFEER AIRLINE LANDING AT BASRA AIRPORT PLANE AT TARMAC AIRLINE TRAFFIC EMPLOYEE DIRECTING PLANE AT RUNWAY AIRPLANE ON AIRPORT RUNWAY SAUDI FLAG ON FUSELAGE OF PLANE IRAQI AIRPORT OFFICIALS WAITING NEAR PLANE SAUDI AIRLINE TEAM DESCENDING MUNTASER AL-GHUSEN, DEPUTY-DIRECTOR OF ALWAFEER AIRLINE FOR SAFETY AFFAIRS CARRYING BOUQUET AT BASRA AIRPORT IRAQI OFFICIALS AT AIRPORT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MUNTASER AL-GHUSEN, DEPUTY-DIRECTOR OF ALWAFEER AIRLINE FOR SAFETY AFFAIRS, SAYING: " We express our happiness to arrive in Iraq. We pray to God to bless this step and and bless all the good efforts whether those exerted by our brothers in the Republic of Iraq or by Saudi Arabia" IRAQ PASSENGERS WAITING AT AIRPORT DEPARTURE HALL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ABDUL AMIR AL-GHANIM, DIRECTOR OF BASRA AIRPORT, SAYING: "God willing it is a first step to develop relations between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. We are ready to receive all giant planes, God willing" LINES OF IRAQI PASSENGERS WAITING TO BOARD PLANE
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: International Relations,Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVA7QH6M4I1NG2G53RVGJXC5W58W
  • Story Text: A Saudi airliner flies into Baghdad marking the restoration of aviation links between the two countries after a 20-year hiatus.
    Saudi Arabia and Iraq have officially resumed regular flights after a suspension of 20 years following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 in a step to further improve relations between Riyadh and Baghdad strained over the past two decades.
    The privately-owned Jeddeh-based Alwafeer airline made its first flight on Thursday (July 15) landing at Basra's international airport in the first regular flights since the first Gulf war.
    The airline made a flight last year to Iraq to ferry mainly Iraqi hajj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
    The airline is set to operate a weekly flight from Jeddah to Baghdad and two flights a week from Jeddah to Iraq's southern city of Basra.
    The flight was hailed by Saudi officials travelling on the plane as a step to further improve ties between the two Arab countries.
    "We express our happiness to arrive in Iraq. We pray to God to bless this step and and bless all the good efforts whether those exerted by our brothers in the Republic of Iraq or by Saudi Arabia," said Muntaser al-Ghusen, Deputy-Director of Alwafeer Airline for Safety Affairs.
    The Kingdom suspended flights to Baghdad after the 1990 Iraq invasion of the tiny oil-rich neighbour of Kuwait, which consequently led to the Gulf war. The invasion strained ties between the two Arab countries with the suspension of flights remained in place even after the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
    Riyadh joined the U.S.-led coalition that drove Iraq out of the tiny Gulf state the following year. Saudi Arabia, with the world's largest oil reserves, has long been one of Washington's closest allies in the region.
    Saudi Arabia, which adheres to a strict brand of Sunni Islam and is arguably the region's most influential Sunni state, has clearly shown displeasure at the rise of a Shi'ite-led government in Iraq after the ousting of Sunni dictator Saddam.
    But Saudi Arabia , a largely Sunni Arab country, has kept Maliki's government at arm's length since 2003.
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