Near 40% increase in travelers at Erbil Airport

  


       Erbil International airport , located 7.0 Km North-west of ERBIL city, operates 60 flights a week to and from 25 countries worldwide. The airport was expanded in 2010 and it is claimed its runway is the longest in the Middle East and the fifth on the world level, after China, Russia, South Africa and the U.S.

        In a press release Erbil Airport General Director Talar Fayaq said more than 621, 870 people used the airport in 2011. She predicted the airport could see further increases in the number of visitors and the amount of transported goods in 2012. There is an interview here between Talar and the news source Rudaw which describes 2010 increases. Rudaw does a good job of covering happenings in the Kurdistan region.

      “I expect shipments will increase to Kurdistan via the Erbil International Airport as the needs for imported goods is on the rise in Kurdistan.” Talar said. This also reflects the high safety and security standards that we adhere to, as well as our ambitious plans to be on par with the world’s leading airports by offering state-of-the-art facilities,” she added.

      All economic indicators point towards promising opportunities in Iraq’s civil aviation sector, which is experiencing what has been heralded as a ‘new beginning’. Despite being up against a challenging environment and years of underinvestment and deterioration, significant steps towards the reconstruction of the civil aviation sector have been taken. The country has a clear vision of the world-class facilities that it plans to develop, as well as a strong strategy for rebuilding Iraqi Airways as an international airline. Iraq’s major airports are being rehabilitated, and provincial governments are upgrading existing airports as well as planning the construction of new airports.