Efforts made for lifting of Iraqi Airways’ EU ban

Iraq’s Minister of Transport Mr. Razzaq Muhebes Al-Saadawi held a meeting with senior officials of the International Aviation Association (IATA), in the Swiss capital Geneva, alongside the General Manager of the Iraqi Airways, Eng. Karim Kazem Hussein, to discuss the issue of Iraq Airline’s EU airspace ban.  Mr. Saadawi met with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Geneva with Mr. Conrad Clifford, Vice President, Deputy Director General and Secretary of Cooperation, and Mr. Frederick Lager, Vice President for Commercial Products and Services at the International Air Transport Association (IATA), to explore ways to cooperate. 

Saadawi assured IATA officials that the national carrier has worked extensively to diagnose and treat their compliance issue, seeking to lift the European ban on the company, ensure its return to the international incubator, and take its leading position in the field of international air transport, in line with its history which spans decades.   Overall, IATA officials were impressed with the well-thought steps taken by the Ministry of Transport towards Iraqi Airlines in its various administrative and technical sectors. More recently, the minister of transport met with the European Union Ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Ville Varjola.

The Media Office of the Minister of Transport explained that during the meeting, they discussed possibilities of cooperation and coordination between Iraq and EU countries in all fields of transport as well as joint work spaces for economic development. The meeting addressed the importance of lifting the European ban on the Iraqi national carrier and the necessity to apply safety conditions in the aviation sector to restore confidence from European countries in the technology and development of Iraqi Airways.