Erbil International Airport prevents Iranian plane from landing

Baghdad (IraqniNews.com) – The Director of Erbil International Airport, Ahmed Hoshyar, announced on Monday that he refused to give an Iranian passenger plane a permission to land for violating legal procedures, according to Al-Arabiya news.

Hoshyar explained in a statement that the Iranian airplane overflew the airspace of Erbil without obtaining the necessary approvals.

Hoshyar also elaborated that the airplane took off from the city of Urmia in north western Iran and overflew the airspace of Erbil without obtaining the required permission from the service company at the airport.

Four days ago, the management of Erbil airport asked the Iranian Airlines to provide information about the plane, the passengers on board and the cargo as a normal procedure always followed by airports and airline companies, but the Iranian airline refused to give the information, thus, a permission to land was not granted, according to Hoshyar’s statement.

Erbil was scheduled to have its first two-way flight between Urmia and the Kurdish capital on Monday. However, Hoshyar said that the airport management had previously expressed to Tehran the need to have an Iranian airline representative at Erbil airport before the flight from Urmia arrives at the Kurdish capital, according to Rudaw news.