Anyone who visits Iraq through the gate of Baghdad Airport is surprised by what he sees of the level and age of the airport. Entering the airport is an arduous task, starting from one checkpoint to another. Travelers line up with their bags before entering, then return to the queues after they enter, and specialized inspection dogs pass by them.
After all these procedures, the traveler enters an airport that appears old: its gates are corroded, some of its windows are taped, some of its bathrooms are closed, and what remains open is old as well. While coffee kiosks look more like train station kiosks in Europe than airports. As for the luggage conveyor belt, it almost collapses due to age and wear. This is not surprising; The airport was built between 1979 and 1982 by French and British companies, and since the years of siege in the 1990s, it has been suffering from a lack of investment and maintenance for many years.
Only the airport staff still have a cheerful spirit and an amazing ability to welcome and be hospitable, as if they were compensating the visitor for the harshness of the place and the complexity of its procedures. It is said that working at the airport, whether in the security or service services, requires special relationships. This adds to the picture the impression that the problem is not in the building alone, but also in the way it is managed.
As for Najaf Airport, which receives hundreds of thousands of visitors heading to the holy shrines in Najaf and Karbala, its building resembles a large goods warehouse, some parts of which are covered with colorful pieces in a style and taste that does not reflect authentic Iraqi art and is not worthy of the volume of religious visits it receives.
There are ten airports in Iraq: In addition to Baghdad International Airport, there are airports in Mosul, Basra, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Kirkuk, Nasiriyah, Dohuk, Karbala, and Najaf. But not all of them are in the works; Some of them are still under construction, and some of the operating airports do not have direct international flights.
Kurdistan airports are better
The situation appears to be much better at the airports of the Kurdistan region, especially at Erbil Airport, which in June 2024 received a high rating from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), after its score exceeded 80 out of 100. The airport received about 2.084 million passengers in 2023, an increase of approximately 384 thousand passengers over the previous year, and operates about 100 flights daily. The same is true at Basra Airport, which highlights the difference between what Iraqi airports can offer and what they offer today in Baghdad and Najaf.
During the rule of the previous regime, there were only three operational airports: Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. With Iraq's openness to the outside world after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, signs began to rebuild an infrastructure that had remained untouched for decades. Iraqi cities began to establish airports as a result of the need for international connectivity, either because of the distance of some of them from the airports of the three cities, or because of the volume of religious visits. But the level of completion of airports, as well as the services provided therein, did not live up to ambition, neither at the planning level nor at the implementation level.
An economy awaits its airports
This gap is not just a matter of appearance. Air transport contributes about $4.9 billion annually to Iraq, equivalent to 1.9 percent of the gross domestic product, and provides about 256,000 job opportunities, including about 95.6 thousand job opportunities related to aviation-supported tourism.
Tourists coming to Iraq also contribute about $2.5 billion annually to the economy through their spending on local goods and services, according to the “Value of Air Transport for Iraq” report for the year 2023, issued based on data from “Oxford Economics” and “IATA.”
In 2023, 3.4 million international travelers left Iraq, about half of whom were heading to Middle Eastern countries, and a third of them to Europe, while Istanbul and Dubai topped the list of most popular destinations. However, Iraq's share does not exceed 3.1 percent of international passenger traffic in the Middle East, which makes the deterioration of airports not only a first impression problem, but an obstacle to tourism, investment, and regional connectivity.
Karbala International Airport is under testing
Karbala International Airport remains another test of Iraq's ambition in air transport. The project, which began implementation in 2017 between Karbala and Najaf, has not yet opened its doors to regular commercial flights, even though, according to the non-state-affiliated Imam Hussein Shrine, its operations reached about 89 percent at the end of 2025. It was designed to be a major gateway for visitors heading to the shrines of Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas, with a capacity starting at about two million passengers annually in its first phase. It will gradually expand to about 20 million passengers when its phases are completed.
The Taiba Karbala Company, which owns the project in partnership with the Imam Hussein Shrine, signed an agreement with Oman Airports to support its preparation, initial operation, and training of local cadres.
The Karbala airport file was not immune to controversy. Since its inception, the project has been marred by allegations and suspicions of corruption related to the method of its referral and management, and the qualification of the parties implementing it, although these allegations have not been finally resolved judicially or governmentally. Work on the project stopped in 2018 amid disputes over the land allocated for it, before it resumed later at an intermittent pace.
Here the same problem is repeated: major projects do not only need stones, but also clear contracts, transparent tenders, and real accountability that prevent the infrastructure from turning into endless open files.
New Baghdad Airport or development of the old airport?
On the other hand, Prime Minister Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi stressed the importance of accelerating the implementation of vital and strategic projects away from bureaucracy and routine, pointing to Iraq’s need for a large airport that keeps pace with the importance of air transport and Iraq’s geographical and economic location.
A statement from the Media Office of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers stated that Al-Zaidi chaired a special meeting on Monday (November 2, 2026) regarding a number of major service projects, including the modern cities projects and the new airport for the city of Baghdad.
However, the statement did not clarify whether by “new airport” the Prime Minister meant a completely new international airport for Baghdad, or the rehabilitation and development of the existing Baghdad International Airport. This confusion is important, especially since the current Baghdad Airport development project was canceled on June 14, 2026 after suspicions of corruption emerged, according to what Reuters quoted government sources.
The canceled project included a contract worth $764 million, awarded the previous year to a consortium that included Luxembourg-based Corporacion America Airports and Iraqi Amwaj International Real Estate, with the aim of developing and expanding Baghdad International Airport and increasing its capacity.
However, two government sources expressed concerns about the possibility of irregularities in the tender process and contract terms, in a step that came as part of a broader campaign to combat corruption and tighten oversight of government institutions. The question remains: Will the “new airport” replace the canceled development project, or is it a new name for an old file that will be re-presented in another form?
Whoever arrives at Najaf or Baghdad airport coming from Doha or Dubai directly encounters the difference between advanced international airports in which leading airlines operate, and dilapidated airports that do not befit the level of a country rich not only in its oil, but also in its history and archaeological areas extending from its north to its south. The answer will not be determined by announcements and meetings, but rather by the clarity of the contract, the transparency of the tender, the speed of implementation, and the government’s ability to transform the traveler’s daily experience from tiring inspection queues and building erosion to an Iraqi gateway worthy of the country’s size and hospitality, and that invests economically in every traveler, tourist, and investor thinking about coming, especially since most of the airlines that transport passengers between Europe, the Gulf, or Southeast Asia pass through the skies of Iraq.
