The European Union extends the ban on Iraqi Airways for six months.
The European Union extends the ban on Iraqi Airways for six months.
2025-06-04
The European Union renewed its ban on Iraqi Airways for six months on Wednesday (June 4, 2025), following a report by European inspectors. This means that Iraqi aircraft will not be able to fly to European Union countries.
“The European Union has long banned all Iraqi Airways flights to its countries due to a lack of safety requirements, non-compliance with applicable international civil aviation guidelines and standards, poor airport conditions, and other reasons,” Karwan Ali Yaroos, a member of the Parliament’s Transport and Communications Committee, said in a statement.
He added that the Prime Minister has tasked the Minister of Reconstruction, Benkin Rikani, with managing the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority to implement all the terms and requirements of the European Union in order to lift the sanctions. However, despite granting Iraq many powers and exceptions for most civil aviation contracts and projects, reinstating the former director of the airline, spending huge sums of money, and signing various contracts, some of which are being investigated by the Integrity Commission and the Council of Representatives, Iraq has failed to convince European inspectors to lift the ban on Iraqi Airways.
Yaroos confirmed that the Prime Minister had been informed, via official letters and the signatures of a large number of members of Parliament, of mismanagement, rampant corruption, and the signing of contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars under the pretext of lifting European sanctions. He pointed out that the EU’s extension of sanctions would affect Iraq’s reputation, as its airlines were among the best in the world.
burathanews.com
