BiziBB
Mar 31, 08, 7:50 pm
As reported by Kagehitokiri in NewsStand (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=807278), Iraqi air has announced a second fleet purchase.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080331/bs_afp/iraqaviationboeing_080331150313
Iraq said on Monday it has signed a contract worth 5.5 billion dollars with Boeing to buy 40 new aircraft, with an option to purchase 15 more.
Baghdad had also signed a 400-million-dollar contract with Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier to purchase 10 passenger planes, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.
He said delivery of the aircraft would start this year, with final delivery expected by the end of 2019.
Iraqi Air appears to have not (yet) been floated off to foreign shareholders.
Original selloff story here (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=771729). Original story here (http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINL2337297420071223?rpc=44).
Now might not be a good time to seek cheap foreign capital, considering its scarcity.
Scanning Iraqi's own website and the stories makes interesting reading.
The current aircraft are a mix of leased equipment and the paned boght in the '70s. ;)
Revival (http://www.iraqiairways.co.uk/en/history03.htm)
The interest on international flights was revived after the War in Iraq, but only after a long period of little domestic aviation activity. Eventually, the airline regained an international status so that it may begin negotiations with other countries for operating an international network.
On May 30, 2003, Iraqi Airways' management officially announced it plans to resume international service soon. Operations restarted on 3 October 2004
...Iraqi Airways operated the first domestic commercial scheduled service since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime from Baghdad to Basra, with 100 passengers in a Boeing 727-247, on 4 June 2006.
Even more interesting, the aircraft regarded as seized assets, in Jordan...
Yahoo story, continued... (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080331/bs_afp/iraqaviationboeing_080331150313)
The national carrier resumed international flights in September 2004 with a Baghdad-Amman service. It now operates also to Cairo, Damascus, Beirut and Dubai.
It also operates three domestic routes from Baghdad -- to Arbil and Sulaimaniyah in the autonomous northern Kurdish region, and to Basra in the south.
An Iraqi Airways plane with then prime minister Ibrahim Jaafari on board made a symbolic first flight in more than a decade to London in June 2005. The flight at the time was touted as the "longest flight since 1990."
In October 2005, an Iraqi Airways plane made its first regular flight from Baghdad to Beirut.
On the eve of the invasion of Kuwait, the company paid European giant Airbus 10 million dollars for four planes, shipments that never arrived when sanctions stalled the deal.
The carrier's ailing fleet of grounded planes includes Boeing 727s and 707s.
Jordan regards the aircraft in Amman as part of millions of dollars of Iraqi assets frozen in the kingdom.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080331/bs_afp/iraqaviationboeing_080331150313
Iraq said on Monday it has signed a contract worth 5.5 billion dollars with Boeing to buy 40 new aircraft, with an option to purchase 15 more.
Baghdad had also signed a 400-million-dollar contract with Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier to purchase 10 passenger planes, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.
He said delivery of the aircraft would start this year, with final delivery expected by the end of 2019.
Iraqi Air appears to have not (yet) been floated off to foreign shareholders.
Original selloff story here (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=771729). Original story here (http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINL2337297420071223?rpc=44).
Now might not be a good time to seek cheap foreign capital, considering its scarcity.
Scanning Iraqi's own website and the stories makes interesting reading.
The current aircraft are a mix of leased equipment and the paned boght in the '70s. ;)
Revival (http://www.iraqiairways.co.uk/en/history03.htm)
The interest on international flights was revived after the War in Iraq, but only after a long period of little domestic aviation activity. Eventually, the airline regained an international status so that it may begin negotiations with other countries for operating an international network.
On May 30, 2003, Iraqi Airways' management officially announced it plans to resume international service soon. Operations restarted on 3 October 2004
...Iraqi Airways operated the first domestic commercial scheduled service since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime from Baghdad to Basra, with 100 passengers in a Boeing 727-247, on 4 June 2006.
Even more interesting, the aircraft regarded as seized assets, in Jordan...
Yahoo story, continued... (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080331/bs_afp/iraqaviationboeing_080331150313)
The national carrier resumed international flights in September 2004 with a Baghdad-Amman service. It now operates also to Cairo, Damascus, Beirut and Dubai.
It also operates three domestic routes from Baghdad -- to Arbil and Sulaimaniyah in the autonomous northern Kurdish region, and to Basra in the south.
An Iraqi Airways plane with then prime minister Ibrahim Jaafari on board made a symbolic first flight in more than a decade to London in June 2005. The flight at the time was touted as the "longest flight since 1990."
In October 2005, an Iraqi Airways plane made its first regular flight from Baghdad to Beirut.
On the eve of the invasion of Kuwait, the company paid European giant Airbus 10 million dollars for four planes, shipments that never arrived when sanctions stalled the deal.
The carrier's ailing fleet of grounded planes includes Boeing 727s and 707s.
Jordan regards the aircraft in Amman as part of millions of dollars of Iraqi assets frozen in the kingdom.