Author: 
Agence France Presse
Publication Date: 
Tue, 2004-08-24 03:00

AMMAN, 24 August 2004 — An Iraqi Airways Boeing 737 made a test flight from Amman to Baghdad yesterday for the first time since the airline’s planes were grounded in Jordan by UN sanctions in 1990, a company official told AFP.

The newly-purchased Boeing left Amman at 11:25 am (0825 GMT) with nine passengers and crew on board, technical manager and head of the Iraqi Airways agency in Jordan, Adnan Al-Hadid, said.

“It was a test flight and the passengers were exclusively Iraqi Airways staff and crew,” he said.

Asked if the company planned regular scheduled flights from Amman to Baghdad in the near future, Adnan said: “Iraqi Airways will make arrangements in light of today’s test flight. Maybe in a week or two.”

Iraqi Airways Regional Director Abdel Razzak al-Dulaimi saw off the plane at its departure from Jordan’s international Queen Alia Airport just south of Amman, Hadid said.

He said it was not immediately clear if the plane would remain in Baghdad or return to Amman.

“All further decisions will be taken by Iraqi Airways headquarters in Baghdad,” said Hadid, a Jordanian national. Baghdad’s international airport is being used as a military base by the US-led coalition forces and a high security jail for top officials of the ousted regime.

Jordan’s national carrier, Royal Jordanian, is the only airline that has been making commercial flights to Iraq but depends on clearance from coalition troops in Iraq for take off to and from Baghdad.

Six Iraqi Airways planes have been grounded in Jordan since UN sanctions were slapped on Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Four are in Tunisia.

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