BAGHDAD, 21 June 2003 — Iraqi Airways, whose planes have been grounded since the outbreak of war three months ago, is hoping to take to the skies again, but the state of its fleet has left the future of the company in doubt.
“The company is preparing to resume operations, which have been interrupted since the war began ... but we still need several more months to reach that goal,” Director of Operations Khaled Al-Qayssi told AFP yesterday. “Iraqi Airways’ planes, currently parked on the tarmac at the city’s airport, were stripped of their windows and pilots’ seats during the pillaging” that erupted throughout the capital as Saddam Hussein’s regime collapsed, he said. “The fuselages of the planes have been damaged and the engines are lying on the runway,” he added. The state of what used to be Saddam International Airport — the scene of fierce fighting in the dying days of the regime — poses another major obstacle to resuming flights. Dozens of the carrier’s green and white liveried planes sit on the runway at the airport, renamed Baghdad International when US forces moved into the airport complex on the southern fringes of the capital in early April. The head of the airline’s pilot training department, Abdullah Al-Jaburi, added: “Repairs to the planes will need a lot of time and effort before we can resume domestic and international flights.”
“But Iraqi Airways’ pilots are ready to return to work and they only need two or three hours of refresher training before they can take to the air,” he insisted.
