Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Emirates Airline will launch a new passenger destination in Iraq this August with flights to Erbil, its third Iraqi destination after Basra and Baghdad, the airline said in a statement.
The flights will start on August 12, initially operating four times a week and increasing to a daily service from September 1. The capital of Iraqi Kurdistan will be the carrier's 17th passenger destination in the Middle East.
"Since we first launched flights into Iraq we have seen demand for our services there increase tenfold," said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chief executive of Emirates Airline and Group.
Known to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, Erbil has a population of approximately five million people and is the fourth largest city in Iraq.
The Iraqi Kurdistan region has the sixth largest oil reserve globally with many of the world's large oil multinationals availing of offices there. The region is booming with new, large-scale construction projects.
Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, has been operating a freighter out of Erbil since February 2011.
BBN/SSR/SI-22June12-12:36 pm (BST)
