Lufthansa is planning flights to Iraq

[andorra-airport]

Baghdad and Erbil new Middle East destinations.

As Iraq is increasingly opening up to civil aviation, demand for flights to the country is growing. Lufthansa is therefore examining the possibility of launching several new services to Iraq and is currently planning to serve the capital, Baghdad, and the city of Erbil in Northern Iraq from Frankfurt and Munich.

Lufthansa aims to launch the new services in the summer of 2010, once it has obtained the necessary traffic rights. Further infrastructure requirements are also being examined. With the resumption of flights to Iraq, Lufthansa is pursuing its policy of expanding its route network in the Middle East, which it presently serves with 88 flights per week to 14 destinations in eleven countries.

Lufthansa operated flights to Baghdad from 1956 until the start of the Gulf War in 1990. Erbil is already served from Vienna by Austrian Airlines, which is part of the Lufthansa Group. From next summer, Baghdad and Erbil will be linked to Lufthansa’s hubs at Frankfurt and Munich and will thus be integrated into Lufthansa’s global route network.

The exact flight times and fares will be announced at a later date as soon as booking for the new routes opens.

presse.lufthansa.com 12.01.2010

[BrightCedars]

Good, there are now several daily operations taking place from the region at Baghdad so I guess it's judged safe enough to restore flights from further afield. It can't be long until we see AF or KL follow, I would however no expect to see BA there as soon as the others.

[regi]

will be probably quite expensive tickets

[Frederik Peeters]

Has someone an idee of wich aircraft will be used one these routes??

[andorra-airport]

will be probably quite expensive tickets

Most flights out of Europe to Iraq are around 1000 euro. So I guess you can expect that from LH as well.

Has someone an idee of wich aircraft will be used one these routes??

My guess is the Airbus A340-600

[andorra-airport]

I would however no expect to see BA there as soon as the others.

BMI wants! They are keen to add destinations such as Baghdad to its network because it believes serving less conventional destinations from LHR is better business than competing directly with BA on destinations such as New York and Cape Town.

They need governmental approval though...

[Outsync]

Has someone an idee of wich aircraft will be used one these routes??

No clue, but some fighterjets to escort them

[sdbelgium]

Has someone an idee of wich aircraft will be used one these routes??

I heard the Iraq flights would be tag-ons with the Amman flights (crew layover at AMM and then an AMM-Iraq-AMM rotation), which would mean they are operated by A321s.

[euroflyer]

LH is planning to fly to Erbil in northern Iraq as well (from MUC as far as I heard). From the LH group OS is flying already to Erbil I think, correct?

[RoMax]

LH is planning to fly to Erbil in northern Iraq as well (from MUC as far as I heard). From the LH group OS is flying already to Erbil I think, correct?

Indeed OS is flying from VIE to Erbil.