Iraq extends suspension of commercial flights until April 18
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The federal government of Iraq informed the Ministry of Transportation of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Friday that it had again extended the suspension of commercial flights to and from all Iraqi airports as part of national anti-coronavirus efforts.
“Please be advised that following instructions received from the Iraq Civil Aviation Authority, airports throughout Iraq, including Erbil, will remain closed to commercial passenger flights until April 18,” the official website of Erbil Airport reported in a travel update.
The regional Interior Ministry also announced on Friday that it was adding another extension to the regionwide curfew now in place.
Read more: Kurdistan extends region-wide curfew until April 16
The initial decision to halt passenger flights came on March 17, when the agency suspended them for a week as the government began to take preventive measures to counter the spread of the novel coronavirus. So far, the order has been extended four times when it was about to expire.
The restriction exempts certain flights, including those of humanitarian organizations such as the Iraqi Red Crescent, health assistance and emergency flights, and those carrying freight but no passengers.
As a result of the measure, many Kurdistan Region residents who have gone to Europe on study or tourism visas are now stranded there amid local curfews or flight restrictions by the Iraqi government. In late March, KRG diplomats assured Kurdish students in Europe they would be able to return to the autonomous region once the coronavirus pandemic passes even if their travel documents have expired.
Foreign nationals working in the Kurdistan Region are also not able to return to their home countries for the same reasons, as well as international land crossings which are also closed.
At the end of last week, however, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the first time since the travel restrictions were announced, allowed foreign nationals to leave through limited commercial flights through the airport in Erbil. As a result, a number of them returned home on flights operated by Qatar Airways.
The Prime Minister of the autonomous region, Masrour Barzani, has also tasked his cabinet with assisting the return home of Kurdistan Region residents in various countries around the world, according to a statement released by the KRG Department of Foreign Relations (DFR).
On March 23, the KRG allowed the return of a group of citizens studying in Turkey and on April 2, nearly 100 who had been stranded in India returned home with the help of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and KRG’s representative in Baghdad.
According to the latest update by the KRG Ministry of Health, there are 325 confirmed cases of the deadly virus in areas under its jurisdiction, including four deaths and 145 patients who have recovered.
According to a statement by the federal Iraqi Health Ministry in Baghdad, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, has reached 1,279. Among them, said the ministry, 70 have died and 550 are said to have recovered but some reports have suggested that Baghdad is intentionally underreporting the number of infections.
The highly-contagious disease has infected over 1.76 million people worldwide and killed over 107,000, according to the latest government-reported data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting.
Editing by John J. Catherine