Gulf Air has confirmed that it will be flying into Basra effective from September 1 this year. This follows an announcement by the Head of Iraq's Governing Council last week in which six international airlines were given rights to fly into Iraq's second largest city.
Included in the list of airlines selected to commence operations into Basra are Gulf Air, Emirates, Lot Polish Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and SAS.
With just two weeks until operations are due to commence, Gulf Air explained that it would have to obtain clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Meteorology in Oman and obtain the necessary permission from Civil Aviation in Bahrain and Abu-Dhabi.
In the meantime airline officials are working on the logistics of the operation and will assess security and ground-handling facilities at the airport, which like other facilities in Iraq has been closed since the 1991 Gulf War. At this stage, in the terms of the initial arrangement, Gulf Air will fly to Basra once a week. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
