Manama: Gulf Air on Thursday began its service to Basra, Iraq, with four weekly flights.
The first flight to Basra took off at 10.15am from Bahrain in the presence of Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Samer Majali, senior officials from the Bahrain Civil Aviation Authority, Bahrain Airport Company and Gulf Air executives, the company said.
Majali, who travelled on the inaugural flight, was welcomed at Basra International Airport by Nizar Al Jabri, the Acting Governor of Basra, senior civil aviation authorities, airport officials and the media.
"We are pleased to fly into Basra today, our fourth destination in Iraq," Majali said in Basra.
Close ties
"Gulf Air's relationship with Iraq goes back nearly 35 years with our first flight to Baghdad in 1976. When we resumed our services to Baghdad in September 2009, I promised to connect more destinations in Iraq and I am pleased say that we have added Najaf, Arbil and today, Basra," he said.
Gulf Air's strategy is to connect Bahrain and underserved markets in the region, he said.
"Basra, as the third largest city of Iraq, has great potential with substantial petroleum exploration related businesses and other trades, but is not adequately served by air currently. By launching our service to Basra, we are not only enabling the people and businesses of this great city to connect to Bahrain, one of the fastest growing economies in the Middle East, but also opening doors to the entire Middle East, European, Asian and North African markets," Majali said.
Gulf Air will operate four weekly flights using Embraer and A319 aircraft that offer Falcon Gold class and Economy Class.
"Our Basra flights have been scheduled in such a way that they provide very good two-way connectivity to all the major GCC points such as Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait and Muscat in addition to key destinations in Europe, North Africa and Asia from 40 minutes to 3 hours of connecting time. I am sure Basra will also be a successful one like our other routes in Iraq," Majali said.
