I have been watching this BBC report scroll by on my ticker for a while now, it took a little bit for me to realize how momentous an event this really is.
COMMERCIAL AIRLINE TRAVEL FROM EUROPE TO BAGHDAD HAS RESUMED.
This is huge. The threat of MANPADs or other SAM weapons has always been significant. You have a fixed location for aircraft to land at, and realtively reliable routes that commercial airliners are going to take to reach that airstrip. It’s not like these planes are going to enter the pattern at high speed for a break turn and short final.
This is a SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENT and speaks to the normalcy that can be found in the country. But the MSM has closed all their news bureaus in Baghdad so the peace, security, and normalcy that is returning to that region of the world is being missed by those that have given so much to achieve this.
European flight lands in Baghdad
Air France-KLM signed a preliminary accord with Iraq just days ago, setting out plans for Iraqi Airways to fly to European destinations.
Nordic Leisure flew about 150 passengers from Copenhagen.
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The first commercial flight between Europe and Iraq in at least 17 years has landed at Baghdad airport.
Swedish-based company Nordic Leisure says it expects to fly to the Iraqi capital once a week.
About 150 passengers, mainly Iraqis, arrived from Denmark on the first such flight since UN sanctions were imposed after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Iraqi national carrier Iraqi Airways has said it hopes to start flying routes to Europe in the coming months.
More international arrivals are expected in the next two days, including one from Hong Kong, Iraqi Transport Minister Amer Abduljabbar Ismail told journalists, AFP news agency reported.