Emirates has been active in Iraq for over four years having first launched flights between Dubai and Basra in February 2011. It added launched services to Baghdad in November 2011 and then Erbil from August 2012. However, it closed the Baghdad and Erbil routes at the start of March this year due to security concerns as large parts of Iraq fell under the control of Da’esh. It had also temporarily suspended services to Erbil between August and November 2014 due to safety concerns with its flights.
The new venture will complement the existing operations into Jordan with the introduction of regular scheduled flights to Kuwait from May 18, 2015 with services to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia following from May 19, 2015; Erbil, Iraq from May 20, 2015 and Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt from May 21, 2015 and more destinations are due to be added later in 2015.
The new flights from the Iraqi flag carrier will be the first non-stop scheduled links between Manchester and the country, although a previous charter series have linked the markets previously via a one-stop offering. Both routes will be flown using a new Boeing 737-800 configured with 162 seats.
