30 Nov 2010
(MENAFN) Dubai carrier Emirates, the largest Arab airline, said that it will launch flights to Iraq’s city of Basra starting February 2 to tap growing demand for the destination, Reuters reported.
Basra will be Emirates’ first Iraq route after the airline postponed the launch of flights to Baghdad earlier this year citing operational reasons.
Iraq’s Shi’ite south, where Basra is located, has been relatively peaceful in recent months in comparison to Baghdad and the north where devastating assaults and bombings by Sunni Islamist insurgents remain common.
Emirates expects its outbound traffic from Basra to be skewed towards local Iraqis, who are expected to travel more as the economy recovers. The airline expects to handle around 10-12 tons of cargo per flight.
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