Shafaq News- Erbil/ Al-Sulaymaniyah
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) on Friday suspended all flights between the KRI's airports and Iran until further notice, Erbil International Airport director Ahmed Hoshyar told Shafaq News.
The suspension covers Erbil International Airport and Al-Sulaymaniyah International Airport, Hoshyar said.
In Al-Sulaymaniyah, official instructions were issued to halt all arriving and departing flights to and from Iran from 2:00 a.m. on Friday, September 25, a source familiar with the matter told Shafaq News. The airport's official schedule, reviewed by Shafaq News, listed Mahan Air flight IRM 5057 to Tehran, due to depart at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, as canceled. The airport had not issued an official statement on the suspension or its duration at the time of publication.
The KRI's airports are run by the KRG rather than Iraq's federal Ministry of Transport.
The move completes the halt to air travel between Iraq and Iran this week. Ground-handling companies stopped serving Iran flights at Iraqi airports on Thursday for fear of US Treasury penalties, and all Iraqi, foreign and Iranian airlines on the route stopped operating, the ministry source told Shafaq News. Najaf International Airport suspended flights with Iran from 2:00 a.m. on Friday, according to an airport circular, and Kirkuk International Airport said on Friday it runs no flights to Iran.
No nationwide order to halt the flights has been issued. Such a directive would have to come from the federal government or Iraq's Civil Aviation Authority, the only bodies with authority over every airport in the country, the ministry source said.
The US Treasury announced sanctions on September 8 against 36 entities linked to Iran's aviation sector, including 27 airlines. The measures came into force on Wednesday.
Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, said on Friday that no country in the region would be able to fly if Iran is denied air travel and airport services. "Either flights are free for everyone in the region, or for no one," he said.