First air flight to Basra, Iraq, since 1990

The first international plane to land at Basra airport in southern Iraq since 15 years received warm welcome on Monday from officials in the city.

Officials in Basra said that a Boeing 747 plane of "al-Anqa" (Sphinx) with Sharja as a headquarters, coming from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, had on its board 22 passengers landed in Basra, noting that the company will run two flights weekly between Dubai and Basra.

The government of Basra Muhammad al-Weili said in a welcoming speech for the passengers "we hope flights to Iraq will increase from countries of the region and the world." Worthy mentioning that since the UN started implementation of economic sanctions on Baghdad after the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, no foreign plane had landed in Basra.