MANAMA – Bahrain's national carrier, Gulf Air will resume its services to Iran and Iraq from Sept. 20, 2012 following the Bahrain government's approval. Flights to Baghdad, Erbil, Najaf and Basra in Iraq and Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz and Isfahan in Iran will begin progressively between Sept. 20 and Oct. 28, subject to final approvals by the civil aviation authorities of the respective countries. Announcing the news Thursday, Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Mr. Samer Majali said “we are glad to be resuming our operations to Iran and Iraq. I am sure this will be a welcoming news for thousands of Iranians and Iraqis living and working in Bahrain and the GCC countries as well as the business community for whom the direct flights will be a great advantage.” He added that “we were the first and only full-service GCC carrier to operate into Baghdad back in 1976. Again, we were the first carrier to restart our operations in 2009, which received overwhelming support from travelers with most of our flights flying to full capacity. However we had to suspend the flights in 2011 due to unavoidable circumstances but were confident that we will resume our operations soon. I am glad the time has come.” Flight schedule for Iraq: Najaf - from Sept. 20 with four weekly flights increasing to daily from Dec. 1 Baghdad- from Sept. 21 with five weekly flights Erbil - from Sept. 23 with four weekly flights increasing to daily from Oct. 28 Basra - from Oct. 29 with three weekly flights increasing to four from Dec. 1 Flight schedule for Iran: Mashhad - from Sept. 22 with four weekly flights increasing to daily from Dec. 2 Shiraz- from Sept. 23 with five weekly flights increasing to daily from Dec. 1 Tehran- from Sept. 25 with six weekly flights increasing to daily from Dec. 1 Isfahan - from Oct. 30 with three weekly flights The above flights will be operated by a combination of Embraer and Airbus fleet. – SG
