Iraqi Airways will launch two services from Manchester next month.
On March 15, the carrier will start flying to Sulaymaniyah and, on March 18, to Erbil. Each route will operate once-weekly from Manchester airport's Terminal 1.
Outbound service IA265 will depart Sulaymaniyah each Sunday at 1430 and arrive in Manchester at 2000, with return service IA266 leaving Manchester at 2200 and landing in Sulaymaniyah at 0630 the next day.
For the Erbil route, outbound flight IA267 will depart Erbil at 1330 and land in Manchester at 2000, while return flight IA268 will take-off from Manchester at 2200 and arrive in Erbil at 0630 the next day.
On both routes, there is a one-hour and 45-minute stopover in Vienna when travelling from Iraq to the UK.
Saad Al-Khafaji, the airline's general manager in the UK, said: "With a strong Kurdish community across the region in the north and West Midlands, we are sure the route will prove to be popular."
Ken O'Toole, CCO at Manchester Airports Group, added: "Manchester is now the only airport outside of London to offer these routes with Iraqi Airways, and confirms the national role played by our airport.
"With Manchester already having two runways and a catchment area of 22 million people living with two hours of the airport, we have the capacity to support airlines that have ambition to grow in the UK."
In 2010, Iraqi Airways operated its first service between London and Baghdad in 20 years (see news, April 2010).
Graham Smith
