Baghdad International Airport

International flights to and from Iraq's Kurdistan region were set to end from 6:00 p.m. (11.00 a.m. ET) on Friday, after the central government imposed a ban in retaliation for the region's vote for independence, reported Reuters. 

Greek private airline company Air Mediterranean has added 7 new direct flights from Greece to London, Stockholm, Jeddah, Casablanca, Khartoum, Baghdad and Erbil. The Greek company, which entered the civil aviation market in January 2017, announced the new flights would be operating from November 1, with the fares starting from 85 euros including all airport levies and taxes.

Flights from Turkey to northern Iraq will be suspended as of Sept. 29, the Turkish Consulate in Arbil stated on Sept. 27, as Ankara continues to object to the recent independence referendum in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (KRG).
 

A number of international carriers have announced they would halt flights to the Iraqi Kurdish region this week at the request of Baghdad, including Lebanese and Egyptian national carriers. 

Turkish Airlines has announced its flights would continue for now, as any formal request was not delivered to the company yet from Iraqi authorities. 

Turkish Airlines canceled its flights to Arbil and Baghdad on Oct. 17 due to the U.S.-led military operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Doğan News Agency has reported.

Baghdad's recent remarks on Turkish soldiers stationed in Iraq are "dangerous and provocative," Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on Oct. 7, responding to claims that his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi allegedly said "Turkish soldiers should not think they are having picnic."

Turkish Airlines has canceled some flights to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq due to the closure of airspace in the region, the company said in a statement on Dec. 7.

Some, but not all, flights on Dec. 7 and Dec. 8 to Arbil and Sulaymaniyah have been canceled, the statement said.

Iraqi Defense Ministry has sent back two aircrafts carrying weapons to Iraq's Kurdistan region to Turkey and Kuwait after detaining them for a few days, the Do?an News Agency (DHA) reported.

British authorities are in touch with their Turkish counterparts after a British journalist was found dead at Istanbul?s main international airport, an embassy official said on Oct. 20. 

Jacky Sutton, 50, was acting Iraq country director for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), and died on Sunday en route to Arbil, in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. 

Sixteen Turkish workers who were held captive by Shiite militias earlier this month in the Iraqi capital Baghdad have arrived in the Turkish capital late Sept. 30 after their release earlier in the day.