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    Fly Baghdad 2023

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    18 views2 pages

    Fly Baghdad 2023

    Uploaded by

    MLR123
    Fly Baghdad 2023

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 2
    en Me Meme mae RCN ey Ren Lee Le maT. UTR TN eee eee Ol OL TLE lad plays an outsized role in connecting Ree En H CPP e re long haul to Europ Peer ce Rd Cres Pe eet talking to Arabian Aerospace about ree tet torr) Pe ee Cg ee ere ee insurgoney that would paralyse Iraq and the Mile oes pee eee eee) ieee trae ee se ery world stage ‘And, while the flag-carrier has succeeded in doubling is fleet and re cere ern eee reat biggest strides forwardfor civil aviation. ee ie eee eo ey Ue eMC. Pe ee ee ere eed . ° See eer Tuas eh RT CR aS nC ca CIO elciei BASHEER AL-SHABBANI A i CcoNTUED FROM PAGEL? ‘The airline was forced to suspend operations just to years laterasits home nation teetered “onthe brink of civil war. But, even with Daesh holding onto tervtory in the north and perpetrating ever more deal terror attacks, Fly Baghdad's owners sensed an opportunity to try again. Prominent Iraj businessman Ahmad Asad decided to reinvent thecompany asa scheduled airline —iniially adopting a low-cost carier business model and ightsresumed in February 2017. in 10 months, Iragi troops had liberated the last remaining tovns under Daesh control and prime ministor Haider AAbadi had publicly declared victory over the terrorists. ‘The gamble, in other words, paid of, "Weare not, any more, low-cost cartier Basheer Al-Shabbani, Fly Baghdad's chief executive, said in an interview in fn, “The concept started asa low-cost cartier targeting people who cannot pay for luxury tickets, “But, when I took over as CEO in 2018, 1 found the Iraqi people don't like the name “ow- cost. They don't ke having a ticket without ‘having some extra service on board... Sonow ‘weare providing almost all the services fee: passengers on Fly Baghdad have the meals free, first-time [booking] changes fre, 25k [checked] baggage, 7hg hand logguge. Soit's lar Iragi Airways. “Indeed, you can call us alow-fareearien, We depend on the high density of seats to give us the ‘opportunity to sella low ticket [price] toget the gooao Despite its relative youth, Fly Baghdad has ‘quickly become the second largest arine in Iraq With 10 aircraft on its episty ive Boxing 737 800s, two 737-900ERs, one 737-700, one Bombardier CR]200 and one CR}900. third 737-900ER was expected to join the et ‘bythe en of the summer, Al-Shabbani confirmed, pending the completion oa C-checkin Cairo By way of comparison agi Airways has 37 aircraft on its registry including three \widebodies~ though only about half ofthe planes are currently service. The flag-cartier took delivery ofits irs Boeing 787 Dreamliner in une, with nine more on ordet. Eager toattrat more corporate travellers, Fly Baghdad has installed business clas cabins on ‘woot its Boeing 757-800s— currently deployed on the Dubai and Beirut routes as wellas on thenewly-inducted Bombardier CR}900, Other pointsin the route network include [Ahmedabad and Mumbai (India); Aleppo and Damascus (Syria): Amman (Jordan): Cairo (Egypt) Isfahan, Mashhad and Tehran (ran); Istanbul (Turkey); Karachi and Lahore (Pakistan); Medina (Saudi Arabia); Tunis (Tunisia and Yerevan (Armenia) The battle to build bridges with EASA 12015, agi irways received the disappointing news tatitwasno longer permitted tly to the European Union. The European Union ‘Aviation Safety Agency (EASA justfedts ban onthe bass of “credible andspecficsafety reports containing examples ofallege failures to comply with applicable international ICAO) safety standards by raqi rays and he rag (CAA"(GiilAvation Authority, tals said that repeated request for documentary evidence had been ignored. ral officials described the situations misunderstanding and confident predicted a lifting ofthe ban. But, eight years on, the fag- Carter emains blacklisted. Wet-easing craft from foreign operators the only means by hich it can mow access Europe. For Fly Baghdad the apparent failure of kaq's flag cater to maintain ntemational safety standards might seem like an open goal butl- Shabbanisin no mood ta take shots athistval. “Theres not really abig doubt here that rag Airways or some other atines who gotbanned by EASRis werysafe"he insisted, raqiAirways are maintaining safe ‘operation since long ago. Sometimes [airtines] getbanned not because they are nt safe bt] because thelr documents are not upto the standards of EASA... EASA are very precise in the requirements fr] documentation—how to unite the wording; howto provide the evidence to convince the people who are siting in offices. Wil, in fact, the atin, the plot the engineer they willotiet any aircraft take offfitis not safe or arworty.” gagou Fromits oun perspective Fly Baghdad also held Aiscussions with EASA in 2018 to secure third ‘country operator (TCO) status a precusorto launching European fights but the regulator denied request citing ongoing concerns about rags CAA, Having now completed multiple IATA ‘operational safety auits(]0SA)~the industry gold standardfor safety certification Fly Baghdad i hopeful ofa second hearing, ButAF-Shabbani isnt counting his chickens. "They have some concerns andwe are providing docurentation," he shrugged. "Idon't estimate or predict what will happen” Howeverlongittakes, bth ly Baghdad and Iragiirways are determined to build bridges with Europe —andnot just fr business travellers cormembers ofthe diaspora “Today maybe ive percent ff our traffic} inbound tourism. stil the tourists dn'tbeleve ina” Al-Shabbani complained. “tm suri get the 1CO andi start operating to Europe, | willbe able to show Iraq the world ~ show that this isa very sae country. People can come enjyit and thy cansee the origins of human ‘ivlisation” a“ Most ight depart fom Baghdad though several point-c-pint services re operated from secondary bases Erbil and Naja. There are aso less frequent ight rom Kirkuk and Bash Plans fora Moscow routehave now been

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