Iraqi Airways news.

nice updates to the liveries… lets hope the rest of the fleet (the airbuses and 777) get their new liveries soon.

Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has said scheduled direct flights between Moscow and Baghdad are set to resume in August, Azzaman has reported. Direct air links are necessary to facilitate movement of entrepreneurs, industrialists and businessmen between the countries, al-Maliki said.

Confirmation of the final new Iraqi airways livery…

on the first new build 738.

http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/makaay31/media/makaay31%20-%204/1063770_583647728323407_537187493_o_zps5bdd6c07.jpg.html

and of course on the new build CRJ-900s

http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/makaay31/media/makaay31%20-%205/84354_1372294982_zpsc35d78b5.jpg.html

On 5 June 2013, Iraqi Airways resumed flights from Baghdad to Copenhagen , Denmark.
On 10 June 2013, Iraqi Airways will begin flights from Baghdad to Ankara , Turkey.

As one who considers RAF Transport Command colours, late 60s to be the most tasteful ‘colour’ scheme I like the A320 at the top in minimal markings :)….lets have less playschool art on airliners (the exception being the old BA Utopia tails)!

IA begins direct flights from Baghdad to Frankfurt after a break of 23 years.

Iraqi Airways boosts its fleet with aircraft acquisitions
TRANSPORTATION | 2013-04-02
Iraqi Airways is set to acquire two new airplanes this year, raising to 20 the number of aircraft in its passenger fleet, officials said.

“Iraqi Airways will take delivery in July of its first Boeing 737, while the second will be delivered in September,” said Capt. Saad al-Khafajy, general director of the Transport Ministry’s Iraqi Airways Company.

The new planes will be assigned to short and medium air routes between Iraq and its neighbouring countries, as well as some nearby European and Asian destinations, al-Khafajy told Mawtani.

“The two 737s have specifications appropriate to Iraqi climate conditions, and were provided with additional passenger amenities which are not found in other planes of the same type,” he said.

These include touch-screen televisions, ports for charging mobile phones and USB outlets, in addition to other amenities, he said.

The two new planes “will enable our company to increase the number of its flights and upgrade the services offered to its passengers”, al-Khafajy said.

Iraqi Airways currently offers routes to numerous destinations, he added, and will add new routes to cities such as Frankfurt, Baku and Tunis in about a month.

FLEET CONTINUES TO GROW
“In previous years, we used to rely mostly on leasing aircraft from international aviation companies, but today we have our own fleet, including eight new Airbus planes which went into service recently following strenuous efforts made by the Minister of Transport Hadi al-Amery,” Civil Aviation Authority director Capt. Nasser al-Shebli told Mawtani.

“The number of aircraft we now have is fairly good, but definitely not enough to meet our aspirations, especially as our agreements with the international aviation authorities to open new air routes are constantly increasing. This makes it necessary for us to boost our air fleet all the time,” he said.

Al-Shebli said he hoped that expected new additions to the fleet from Boeing would help restore service to previous levels.

Some are superliners that can fly for more than 16 hours and carry 370 passengers, while others carry 180 passengers and are specifically designed for short and medium range trips, he said.

NEW ROUTES BEING INTRODUCED
“The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority is about to conclude an agreement with its counterpart in Russia to create new air routes between the two countries,” he said.

A number of new routes recently were introduced serving cities such as London, Kiev, Malmö and New Delhi, he added.

Ihsan al-Awadi, a member of parliament’s services committee, welcomed the Transport Ministry’s efforts to modernise the Iraqi fleet.

The introduction of modern aircraft represents “an important turning point in the efforts made by the Transport Ministry’s officials to upgrade Iraq’s air fleet”, he told Mawtani.

“This move will be beneficial to travellers, allowing them to travel on board comfortable and high quality, high specification aircraft, which has great significance in support of air traffic and Iraq’s opening up to the rest of the world,” he said.

It looks pretty good, better than quite a few recent designs (Hop!, Finnair, GermanWings come to mind)

so actually the die-cast model for the B738s was wrong after all…

and this will be the new livery, the first new build 738s will be delivered this summer.

it is the same as the new livery for the CRJs.

I remember my first ever spotting trip to Heathrow in 1983. Some Paris diversions were in. 2 Air France 747s and 2 Iraqi 747s were on the ground. The new livery on the 777 is beautiful. Hope they start painting up the A321s and A330s too.

The A330’s were originally destined for Air Asia X – Hence the red/grey interior.

its because these planes were prepared for an african airline I believe (air mauritius or something like that?) who then didn’t take delivery, and the Iraqis took it… that’s what they’re doing now to build up their fleet quickly(A320, A330, B777s etc… all bought on the “cancelled orders” market), and sadly it results in having a complete mish-mash of internal fixtures and no set standard seats/infotainment etc…

the CRJs which were built to Iraqi requirement are much nicer on the inside… and hopefully the B738/B787s when they start arriving will standardise the IA livery and cabins to a more “tasteful” level!

Iraqi CRJ

Unfortunately the A330’s interior is just as disastrous as the paint work. It’s like they’ve taken all the colour off the livery, thrown it in a blender for 5 minutes and chucked it in the cabin. I mean; I wasn’t expecting anything other than the Airbus designed default seats, but those colours! 🙁
Still, at least it’s a brand new aircraft, which is a bonus (although, I’m not impressed with the 3-3-3 seating)

http://www.youshouldtravel.com/iraqiairways/

I think this is an important point to make. Re-establishing an airline from the wreckage of a countrty racked by war for ten years can’t be easy.

Great news, a sign that the country is finally returning to normality (not that many citizens would remember what that was) after decades of decline in the hands of a murderer. Well done IA and well done Iraq!

a bad pic from iraqi tv… the A330 in gatwick. marks the historic resumption of direct flights between London and Baghdad after nearly 23 years.

It was late yesterday by nearly 2 hours. It was due to get in at around 8pm but failed to arrive until about 9.40pm – hence the late departure.

The flight was operated by the A330 but not in a full livery – very similar to the livery on the A320 shown in the first pic of this thread.

Iraqi Airways will begin flights from the 5th of March to London Gatwick from Baghdad and Sulaymania.

Flight Schedule
Day Time Dep Time Arrv Flight no.
Tue/Fri 22:00 LGW 06:30 BGW IA 238
Tue/Thur 13:00 BGW 20:00 LGW IA 237
Thur 22:00 LGW 06:30 ISU IA 240
Fri 13:00 ISU 20:00 LGW IA 239

that was the initial report… maybe they were late or changed to a different time.

Just watching an Iraqi airways A330 depart gatwick on flight radar 24. It’s 1am though! Is that their normal schedule?