Ahmed Hoshyar, the Director of Erbil International Airport (EIA), had said on Saturday, October 26, that Iraq has resumed its air operations after an earlier suspension.
The brief suspension was originally announced by Iraq’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications when they halted all civilian air traffic across Iraqi airports due to regional security concerns.
The ministry’s media office released an official statement saying that the suspension was implemented “due to regional tensions and to ensure the safety of civilian aviation in Iraqi airspace.”
The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority had began procedures to clear out the Iraqi airspace of all transit flights and regular air traffic as a safety measure to protect passenger safety and aircraft crossing Iraqi airspace.
Additionally, Iraqi Airways, the national carrier, had also temporarily suspended all its flights until further notice as a preventive safety measure to ensure passenger security.
The suspension was in response to Israel launching operations against Iran early Saturday morning — an incident that has been tagged as retaliation for Iran’s extensive ballistic missile attack on Israel on October 1.
The quick resumption of air travel shows the Iraqi authorities’ continuous assessment of regional security situations while still maintaining necessary precautions to ensure civilian aviation safety.
