Iranian airline offers thrice weekly service to Baghdad

AFP: Private Iranian carrier Mahan Airlines announced on Thursday that it will operate three flights a week between Tehran and Baghdad, the first scheduled air link in nearly 30 years.

TEHRAN (AFP) — Private Iranian carrier Mahan Airlines announced on Thursday that it will operate three flights a week between Tehran and Baghdad, the first scheduled air link in nearly 30 years.

Services were halted on the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980.

Mahan's first flight landed at Baghdad's international airport on Tuesday with 192 passengers on board.

The company, which flies to Britain, Germany, India, China and Thailand, as well as to domestic destinations, said the Tehran-Baghdad flights are scheduled for Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

Mahan also said it has eventual plans for flights from the Iranian holy city of Mashhad (the burial place of the eighth Shiite Imam) to Baghdad and Najaf (the burial place of the first Shiite Imam). No date was given.

Mahan was established 16 years ago.

In November 2005, an Iraqi passenger plane landed in Tehran, marking the first time in 25 years an Iraqi aircraft touched down there.

Iran and Iraq are both majority Shiite Muslim countries and many pilgrims from each country visit holy sites in the other every year.