ICAA asserts suspension of flights to Kurdish region after notice

CAIRO – 30 September 2017: The Iraq Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) issued a statement on Saturday that it informed foreign airline companies on Tuesday that the flights to the Erbil and Sulaymaniyah airports will be suspended as of 6 p.m. Baghdad time on Friday until further notice.

The authority stated that the airports of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah should implement the resolution and submit to the central national authorities.

In the statement, the authority asserted that there is no financial relation between the airports of the Kurdish region and the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority.

EgyptAir suspended its flights between Cairo and Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, on Friday at 3 p.m. UTC until further notice, in response to the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authorities notice to halt flights in wake of the Kurdish independence referendum.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi ordered the halting of flights serving airports in Iraqi Kurdistan in retaliation for the independence referendum held Monday in defiance of Baghdad. The referendum received a 92.73-percent “YES” vote.

Regional carriers, including Turkish Airlines, EgyptAir and Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines, had already announced that they would be suspending their flights serving Iraqi Kurdistan at Baghdad’s request.

International escalation against the referendum, which Kurdistan insists on conducting, has been witnessed over the past weeks, with neighboring countries warning of possible military interference and furthering boycotting measures.