Gulf Air resumes flights to Iran, Iraq

Bahrain's national carrier Gulf Air will resume its services to Iran and Iraq from Sept. 20.
Flights to Baghdad, Erbil, Najaf and Basra in Iraq and Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz and Isfahan in Iran will begin progressively between Sept. 20 and Oct. 28 subject to final approvals by the civil aviation authorities of the respective countries.
Gulf Air's CEO Samer Majali said: "We are glad to be resuming our operations to Iran and Iraq. I am sure this will be welcomed by thousands of Iranians and Iraqis living and working in Bahrain and the GCC countries as well as the business community for whom the direct flights will be a great advantage.”
The CEO added: “We were the first and only full-service GCC carrier to operate into Baghdad back in 1976. Again, we were the first carrier to restart our operations in 2009, which received an overwhelming support from travelers with most of our flights flying to full capacity. However, we had to suspend the flights in 2011 due to unavoidable circumstances but were confident that we will resume our operations soon. I am glad the time has come and we look forward to the same support from our customers."
Flight schedule for Iraq: Najaf from Sept. 20 with four weekly flights increasing to daily from Dec. 1, Baghdad from Sept. 21 with five weekly flights, Erbil from Sept. 23 with four weekly flights increasing to daily from Oct. 28 and Basra from Oct. 29 with three weekly flights increasing to four from Dec. 1.
Flight schedule for Iran: Mashhad from Sept. 22 with four weekly flights increasing to daily from Dec. 2, Shiraz from Sept. 23 with five weekly flights increasing to daily from Dec. 1, Tehran from Sept. 25 with six weekly flights increasing to daily from Dec. 1 and Isfahan from Oct. 30 with three weekly flights.