The BBC reports that Iraqi Airways has resumed international service with a flight from Jordan bound for Baghdad then onward to Damascus. It was unclear whether there were passengers onboard but it seems likely the plane itself was the same used in a test flight last month, a newly-purchased Boeing, since it’s the only one Iraqi Airways has available.
Soros’s group Iraq Revenue Watch reported last February that the Open Society Institute had obtained a document showing that 75 percent of the country’s air sector had been sold off to the powerful Khawwam al Abdul Abbas family, “reportedly sanctions-era oil-smugglers with close ties to the Saddam regime,” in a no-bid, secret deal.
This is the pdf report:
Controlling Iraq’s Skies: The Secret Sell-off of Iraq’s Air Industry
I’ve spent a couple of hours trying to put together an update without success. But I can say that whomever currently controls Iraqi Airways is in for a rough ride. As USA Today reported last year in a piece they did on the airline, “Airlines in other countries that suffered international isolation have found it difficult to regain market share and re-establish flight networks.”
The former Yugoslavia was cited as an example.
Update 9/19 @ 11:47am: Air-Iraq, Dr. Ahura F. Khaleghi Yazdi’s project, was formerly Sky Airlines. Maybe the name changed because it was too similar to SkyLink-USA which USAID announced in May 2003 was given a $2.5 million initial award to manage Iraq’s airports. Yazdi lists “Assessment and resolution of the former Iraqi Airways” amongst the goals of Air-Iraq under the Iraq Aerospace-Aviation Program (IAP) but it’s yet to be updated.
Have you ever looked through the Coalition Authourity‘s pdf file of contracts awarded? It’s filled with all sorts of quizzical items like $150,000.00 for winter jackets for Kirkuk police. Where did they go to buy them, Rodeo Drive?
According to Iranian, a commenter in this thread, the sign that Yazdi’s plan to liberate Iran on October 1st is in motion will be this Wednesday when Iran stops producing oil.