Iraqi Airways completed a test flight from Amman to Baghdad on 23 August 2004, the first time the carrier had operated the route since UN sanctions grounded its Jordanian-based fleet 14 years earlier.
The newly acquired Boeing 737 departed Queen Alia Airport south of Amman at 11:25 a.m., carrying nine people, all company staff and crew. A company official said scheduled commercial service could follow within one to two weeks, depending on the outcome of the test.
The flight returned Iraqi Airways to a route that Royal Jordanian had been serving alone, with departures contingent on clearance from US-led coalition forces, which control Baghdad's international airport and use it as a military base and detention facility.
Six Iraqi Airways aircraft have sat grounded at Queen Alia Airport since UN sanctions were imposed following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990; four more remain in Tunisia. Jordan claims roughly $4 million in parking fees for harboring the planes. Iraq's former interim transport minister had said in May that the airline held a $300 million budget to acquire new aircraft from Airbus and Boeing.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in August 2004, in its own words.