Baghdad airport threatened with flight suspension over staff strike

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Air traffic at the Baghdad International Airport is threatened to come to a standstill as hundreds of its workers started a strike outside the Transport Ministry’s headquarters over delayed salary payments.

“As many as 400 workers of the Baghdad International Airport threatened to suspend the airport’s operations as they did not receive their salaries for 16 months,” sources with the Civil Aviation Authority told al-Madar news agency.

“The workers erected tents and went on strike outside the headquarters of the Ministry of Transport over delayed salary payments,” the sources said, adding that a panel was formed by Transport Minister Abdullah al-Luaibi to find a solution for this crisis.

Air traffic controllers at the Baghdad International Airport went on strike in late 2017, threatening to bring the airport’s flights to a standstill in protest at the low salaries they receive compared to their peers at the foreign airlines operating in Iraq.