Iraq's prime minister on Tuesday announced the resumption of international flights to the two main cities in Iraqi Kurdistan - Erbil and Sulaymaniyah - following their suspension in Sept. 2017 in response to the autonomous region's independence referendum. In a statement, he said he signed the decree “following the response of the local authorities in the Kurdistan region to restore the federal authority to the two airports in accordance with the constitution, in order to facilitate the travel of citizens through Erbil and Sulaimaniyah international airports, The Kurdistan Regional Airports will be under the command and control of the Federal Ministry of Interior.”

Dr. Haider Al-Abadi has said that the system of verification (Paysys) for the airports of the province and its frontier will be linked to the main system in Baghdad, as it is the case in other Iraqi ports and linking the passports and nationality departments and employees at the airports of Erbil and Sulaimaniyah in the Federal Ministry of Interior, according to the law. Advertising Read more

International flights to and from the semi-autonomous region's two main airports in Erbil and Sulaimaniyah were halted on Sept. 29 as part of sanctions imposed on the Kurds after they held an independence referendum four days earlier in defiance of Baghdad and voted overwhelmingly in favour of separation.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi lifts a ban on international air travel to the Kurdistan Region.