With U.S. forces withdrawing from Iraq in 2003, the war that began in 2003 as part of George W. Bush’s wider war on terror after 9/11 continues to have far-reaching consequences across the region.
Regular breakouts of political instability between the government and different militias, along with the ongoing humanitarian crisis as one million Iraqis remain internally displaced, has consistently kept the country at the top of the U.S. State Department’s Level Four “Do Not Travel” advisory list.
“Do not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest, and the U.S. government’s limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Iraq,” the advisory last updated in July 2025 reads. “U.S. citizens in Iraq face high risks, including violence and kidnapping.”
New Aegean Airlines flight to offer only direct route to Baghdad from EU
The airlines that fly into Iraq are mostly local ones from the region: Iraqi Airways is the main carrier providing flights out of Baghdad International Airport (BGW), and international carriers flying into Iraq include Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, and Emirates.
On Oct. 31, Greece’s Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis confirmed that the country’s flag carrier Aegean Airlines will soon become the only EU airline to fly directly into the Iraqi capital with an Athens-Baghdad route.
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Aegean Airlines and German flag carrier Lufthansa already operate flights into Erbil, the capital of the semiautonomous Kurdish territory in the north of the country, but have largely held off on Baghdad over greater risk of instability.
Few other details about what the flights will cost, how often they will run, or the market they are expected to serve have been shared at this time.
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“This will substantially boost our people-to-people, economic and cultural ties”
“I think this will substantially boost our people-to-people, economic, but also cultural, ties,” Gerapetritis said at an Oct. 31 news conference held with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
The first flight has been scheduled to take off on Dec. 16; Hussein also welcomed Aegean’s decision as an important move to “reflect the stability the country is experiencing.”
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After the Iraqi military defeated the Islamic State jihadist group that tried to seize control of the country after the U.S. exit, the country has seen more stability than it has in the last two decades.
A $764 million reconstruction of Baghdad International Airport is currently ongoing through a contract that the Iraqi government awarded to Luxembourg-based Corporacion America Airport.
Despite increasing service from international airlines, the main source of entry into or out of Iraq remains Iraqi Airways. Founded in 1945 as an extension of Iraq State Railways, it is also the oldest airline in the Middle East, despite being largely non-operational throughout the two Gulf Wars.
The first flight that restarted during the Iraq War in 2003 ran from Baghdad to the Jordanian capital of Amman. Efforts to restart service and strike flight deals with other countries have also taken place periodically throughout the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s.
Flights to Sweden and the United Kingdom were launched at different points but eventually stopped over fluctuating political relations with these nations’ governments.
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