Although the Iranian civil aviation ban entered into force last Wednesday, vital airports in southern Iraq, and in the Kurdistan region, continued to receive flights before it was decided to stop them at dawn today (Friday), while sources said that compliance with the American ban came under government orders.
The Iranian company Mahan Air announced the cancellation of its scheduled flights to Erbil and Jalal Talabani airports, in the Kurdistan region, after being informed that they were not allowed to operate.
“Kurdistan 24” channel quoted the director of Mahan Company in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, Sarsanj Mamondi: “A flight was scheduled to operate today (Friday) from Tehran to Erbil and vice versa, but we were informed last night that the flight was not permitted,” adding that “the company’s flight to the city of Sulaymaniyah was also canceled for today.”
Mamondi explained that Erbil and Jalal Talabani airports do not face any direct problems with the company’s flights, indicating that “Dnata” ground handling services company and other companies refrain from providing their services and completing the transactions for our flights at the two airports.
An Iraqi Transport official told Asharq Al-Awsat that Najaf Airport is an investment airport subject to the governorate’s authority, and that the ministry in Baghdad is not concerned with implementing the decision.
The official said that local airports are responsible for receiving flights despite the imposed US ban.
In addition, the official Iraqi News Agency reported that Najaf International Airport suspended all flights to and from Iran, as of Friday.
Sources also reported that stopping flights to and from Iran from Najaf came based on the directive of the Prime Minister’s Office, without further details.
Reuters quoted two sources as saying that Iraq is considering diverting Iranian flights from Baghdad to Najaf, after it issued a directive to the Civil Aviation Authority to suspend Iranian flights starting last Wednesday following an American threat to impose sanctions on any airport that provides services to Iranian airlines.
Local reports reported that dozens of travelers heading to Iran gathered in front of the Najaf airport gate, where they were surprised that flights were canceled without warning, and they were prevented from entering the airport.
Representatives of travel companies said that they received an urgent notification from Najaf Airport stating that “based on the official directives issued by the concerned authorities, it was decided to stop all flights (arriving and departing) between Najaf Airport and Iran.”
The Iranian Civil Aviation Organization revealed that Baghdad Airport would stop receiving Iranian aircraft, starting at midnight on Wednesday.
A government source said that if Iran and the United States reach an agreement, air traffic is expected to return to normal, explaining that most Iranian travelers may resort during the current period to traveling via domestic flights to Iranian provinces close to the Iraqi border, and then move overland to Iraq to perform religious visits.
With Iraqi airports complying with the ban, the Iranian aviation sector is taking a severe financial and operational blow. At Najaf Airport, about 18 daily flights operated by 9 Iranian airlines stopped.
In the Kurdistan Region, Mahan Air operates 3 round-trip flights weekly to the Kurdistan Region, Tuesday and Friday to Erbil, and Friday to Sulaymaniyah.
The losses of Iranian companies are embodied in the evaporation of direct operating revenues, a significant reduction in passenger numbers, and incurring huge losses in the economic viability of the trip.
Iranian companies are also currently facing the crisis of canceling thousands of reservations without warning, and freezing financial and contractual obligations concluded with tourism and travel companies.
Iraqi airports' compliance with the US ban on Iranian aviation sparked political reactions. The Islamic Dawa Party considered the decision not to receive Iranian Airlines planes at Iraqi airports to lack a legitimate, constitutional and legal basis, calling on the leadership of the “coordination framework” and the Iraqi government to expedite addressing the matter in a way that preserves the country’s sovereignty and supreme interests.
The Hezbollah Brigades, an armed faction loyal to Iran, called for what it described as “an Iraqi campaign to break the blockade imposed by the United States on Iran, especially after the ban on flights with it.”
The Brigades said in a statement: “The parties and companies that agreed to submit and be humiliated by American decisions have chosen for themselves the role of submissive, after they contributed to suffocating their neighbors and tightening the siege on their people.”
The faction, which also opposes a government plan to confine weapons to the state, called for “breaking the siege by every means possible.” In support of the Iranian people, especially by supporting their products, encouraging their exchange, and refraining from participating in any activity that exacerbates their suffering.”
The cleric, Sadr al-Din al-Qabbanji, also pointed out during the Friday sermon in Najaf that “Iraq’s response to the sanctions does not serve our Iraqi interests, so we call on the state to review these sanctions.”
Iraqi journalist Muntadhar Nasser also considered, to Asharq Al-Awsat, that airports’ compliance with the Iranian flight ban was “a normal measure as it comes in compliance with international sanctions against Iran,” noting that “Iran itself had adhered to a similar decision against Iraq when international sanctions were issued against it in 1990.”
