A Royal Jordanian flight programmed to take off for Baghdad on Thursday was still awaiting a UN green light, Transport Minister Saleh Rsheidat told AFP.
"According to the procedure that must be followed the airline must request UN authorization 48 hours before the flight and receive a written authorization of 'non-objection'," he told AFP.
Rsheidat, who is also deputy prime minister, said the UN green light is received by the Jordanian foreign ministry according to the procedure.
"The deadline has not passed yet and we are waiting for the UN reply before scheduling the flight," he said.
Travel agents in Amman and Dubai told AFP Wednesday they had sold tickets for a programmed flight due to take off Thursday from Amman to Baghdad and aviation sources said the trip was not on a fixed timetable.
Rsheidat stressed that the Thursday flight, and one that left the same day last week for Baghdad, "is not a scheduled flight" nor a "commercial" one as such.
It is compatible however with resolutions of the United Nations whose sanctions committee is informed of all the flight's details.
"Passengers who have booked seats on that flight all have a pressing need to fly to Iraq and this is what give the flight its humanitarian aspect," Rsheidat said.
A tour operator in Amman told AFP on Wednesday that a Royal Jordanian Airbus A310 was expected to leave for Baghdad at 6:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) – AMMAN (AFP)
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