A parliamentary coalition warns of the consequences of a plane landing at Mosul airport and sends a message to Al-Sudani’s government.
A parliamentary coalition warns of the consequences of a plane landing at Mosul airport and sends a message to Al-Sudani’s government.
2025-06-06 01:46
Shafaq News/ The head of the parliamentary opposition coalition and Secretary-General of the “Faw Zakho” bloc, expert Amer Abdul-Jabbar Ismail, warned on Friday of the repercussions of landing a plane at Mosul International Airport due to the lack of a license and the danger it poses to the lives of passengers. He considered this matter to be a risk to the European Union extending its ban on flights to Iraq.
Abdul-Jabbar said in a statement today, “While we congratulate our people in Mosul on the completion of their airport from a structural standpoint, we had hoped that the opening would be complete through obtaining an operating license from the Civil Aviation Authority.”
He considered that “the landing of one of the Iraqi Airways fleet’s aircraft without the airport having obtained a license from the Civil Aviation Authority represents a false message to specialists in international aviation organizations, primarily ICAO and EASA, about the Iraqi authorities’ lack of respect for civil aviation laws, regulations and instructions. This puts the safety of passengers at risk and increases the possibility of extending the flight ban in European airspace.”
Abdul-Jabbar concluded his statement by directing the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to “not rush into complete completion, in all projects, either providing a service worthy of the Iraqi citizen or making them pay the price for any mistakes that occur,” emphasizing that “on these foundations is built trust between the authorities and their people.”
Mosul International Airport witnessed the arrival of its first test flight yesterday, Thursday, from Baghdad International Airport. This step paves the way for the airport’s official opening and the resumption of regular air traffic. This follows years of hiatus due to security concerns and the destruction of the airport’s infrastructure during military operations against ISIS during its sweep across areas and cities estimated to comprise a third of Iraq’s land area in mid-2014.
Hussein Al-Zubaidi, Director of the Iraqi Airports Administration Department, received the aircraft at Mosul Airport. He stated that the test flight is part of a series of technical and operational tests being conducted in coordination with relevant authorities to ensure all air safety and navigation requirements are met, in preparation for the imminent launch of flights.
It’s worth noting that the flight carried an official delegation headed by Nineveh Governor Abdul Qadir al-Dakhil, who emphasized that the reopening of Mosul Airport will represent a qualitative shift in connecting Nineveh Governorate to the world and will contribute to boosting economic, tourism, and investment activity in the city.
Karwan Ali Yaroos, a member of the Parliament’s Transport and Communications Committee, announced last Wednesday that the European Union had extended the ban on Iraqi Airways for another six months, effectively preventing Iraqi aircraft from operating flights to EU countries.
At the end of last May, the Iraqi government announced that 71% of the corrective plan to lift the European ban on Iraqi Airways had been completed.
It’s worth noting that Iraqi Airways has faced a major challenge for nearly a decade, posed by the continued ban on its aircraft by the European Union.
The European ban on Iraqi Airways dates back to 1991, following the former Iraqi regime’s invasion of Kuwait and the imposition of international sanctions on Iraq.
The ban was briefly lifted in 2009, before being reimposed in 2015 due to air safety violations.
The reason for this ban is the company’s failure to meet international aviation safety standards set by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
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