The Jordanian government has agreed in principle to help Iraqi Airways rehabilitate and maintain six of its aircraft grounded in Amman since 1991, official sources said on Thursday. They added that the agreement, reached on the sidelines of the Jordanian-Iraqi Higher Committee meeting that convened in Baghdad last week, provided for supporting Iraqi maintenance teams in repair efforts.
The six planes, all US-made, are not airworthy and require overhauling. There are four Boeing 727s and two 707s, plus one cargo aircraft. The 707s have been parked on the airport tarmac since 1991, while the other aircraft have been occupying hangar space.
Iraq has taken similar measures to retrieve the bulk of its fleet from other Arab countries and Iran. Nearly 30 Iraqi aircraft have been stranded in Iran, whereas the presidential Boeing-747 is sitting in Tunis.
In Baghdad, an unidentified source at the transport ministry disclosed that Iraqi Airways would soon take back the six planes, which had been flown to the Kingdom to protect them on the eve of the 1991 Gulf War.
"The six planes will soon join Iraq's air fleet," the official told Al Thawra newspaper on Thursday. The planes, he added, will be used to transport Iraqi Muslims to Saudi Arabia during the pilgrimage season, which has already begun.
Iraqi Airways, which was grounded in 1990, dispatched their fleet of some 30 aircraft to Iran, Jordan, Libya and Tunisia for safekeeping. The national carrier launched domestic flights on November 5 through the US- and British-controlled "no-fly zones" to the southern port of Basra and the northern oil city of Mosul.
Since Baghdad's revamped Saddam International Airport reopened in mid-August, Russian aircraft led the way in a campaign to end the air embargo. Solidarity flights, ushered in by a September 27 Royal Jordanian trip, have since become an almost daily affair.
The US and Britain insist that authorization from the UN Sanctions Committee is needed to fly to Baghdad. But France, like China and Russia, say that non-commercial flights need not be authorized.
Meanwhile, the Aqaba Ports Corporation (APC) has compiled a list of potential firms that could succeed the British insurance firm Lloyds Register in the inspection of Iraq-bound cargo. "The APC has prepared a list of companies, including an Indian firm, that are cheaper and could facilitate the flow of Baghdad-bound transit goods," said an official at the Transport Ministry.
Not only did Lloyd's Register inspections, in force since the mid-1990s, place an annual burden of $2.5 million a year on the treasury, they also hindered the flow of goods through the semi-idle Aqaba Port.
"Jordan received many complaints about bureaucratic delays of weeks and months that hampered transit cargo to Iraq," the source added. Last month, Jordan served Lloyd's Register with a final notice terminating their services. The contract expires in December. — ( Jordan Times )
By Saad G. Hattar
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
