Iraq says Kuwaiti flights began using Iraqi airspace on Friday
Iraqi Airways resumes its flights to Europe.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Kuwaiti airlines are again using Iraqi airspace, ending a three-year-old ban, Iraq’s ministry of transport announced on Saturday.
It said the development comes as Iraqi airspaces “became totally secure”.
Kuwait Airways had banned its flights from passing over Iraq since the emergence of Islamic State militants there in 2014.
A statement by the Iraqi ministry said Kuwaiti airlines began using the Iraqi air on Friday for its flights to Europe and some Arab countries.
Director-general of the Iraqi aviation authority, Abbas Omran, said in the statement that Dutch airlines resumed flights via the Iraqi airspace days earlier, and more will follow.
Last month, UAE also ended a similar ban.
Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State earlier this month, ending a three-year occupation of Iraqi territories which began in 2014 with the group’s supreme leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaiming a self-styled “caliphate|.