Birmingham Airport Welcomes New Weekly Service to Northern Iraq

December 4 2009

Home will now be a lot closer for the Midlands’ Iraqi community, following the launch of a new direct service to the north of the country from Birmingham Airport.

The service, operated by Swedish travel operator Aer Olympic, offers weekly departures on an alternate basis to the cities of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah via Stockholm. The new route provides the local Iraqi-Kurdish market with a direct link back to the region, without the need to battle up and down congested motorways to fly from airports outside the Midlands.

Paul Kehoe, CEO of Birmingham Airport, said, “At a time when the aviation industry is facing the toughest trading conditions in living memory, we are delighted to be welcoming this new service to Birmingham. The route will offer a direct link to Kurdistan for the first time and means that those living in the Midlands can access this service from their local airport. We wish the service every success and it’s particularly promising to see such encouraging loads on the first flights.”

Akes Kefalas, CEO of Aer Olympic, said, “Aer Olympic has been expanding in the UK for the last 12 months and the launch of these routes from Birmingham is an important step for us. The diverse ethnic communities of the Midlands will now have a direct link to northern Iraq and the feedback we have already received has been overwhelmingly positive. Those who have family and friends in Erbil or Sulaymaniyah can now fly from their local airport and we are looking forward to hopefully growing our business from Birmingham in 2010.”
 
Flights depart Birmingham every Tuesday at 0815, serving Erbil and Sulaymaniyah on alternate weeks via Stockholm.

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