Sulaimaniyah Airport Flying High: Kurdistan
1.6.2006
By Darya Ibrahim | |
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Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan-Iraq
Construction of Suly’s airport was
completed last September in accordance with ICAO standards and with
ambitions to attract world-class airlines.
It’s not exactly Heathrow, but it’s certainly air miles away from
the airport of a certain neighboring city, which will not be named.
It’s sparkling clean and still smells of fresh paint.
It boasts a restaurant and a genuine Duty Free Shop, where
passengers can while away the hours in the very likely event of
flight delays.
Sulaimaniyah International Airport, which officially opened in
January, had been much anticipated by frequent travelers to Iraqi
Kurdistan.
Until then, anyone traveling to Sulaimaniyah or elsewhere in the
region was obliged to land in Arbil, and then drive two and half
hours or more to the desired destination.
This was not always convenient, as with the usual protracted,
unexplained delays, the plane would land very late in the evening,
impelling the traveler to stay behind and leave in the morning – or
the less favorable option to venture by road in the black of night.
“The airport is one of the most important features of a city trying
to attract more foreign investment,” says Kamran Ahmed Abdullah,
Chairman of Sulaimaniyah International Airport. “It’s the first
thing they see when they arrive, and it leaves a lasting impression.
So in this way, the airport also becomes a way to promote or detract
foreign investment.”
Sulaimaniyah International Airport spreads over 13.5 square meters
and consists of a 3.5km-runway, a 3.5km-taxiway, and illumination
and navigation systems.
It also has a meteorological station, firefighting building,
mechanical station for cooling and heating, power station, storage
tanks and fuel stations for supplying aircrafts with fuel.
Construction was completed last September at a total cost of $40
million, and in November, it was granted the international ORSU
permission code from ICAO, which is required for setting up flights
to any regional or European country. |
Kamran Ahmed Abdullah, Chairman of Sulaimaniyah
International Airport. Kurdistan (Iraq)
Photo: Soma-digest |
Abdullah was involved with the project from its inception in late
2003. A civil engineer by profession, he was head of supervision of
the construction, and later promoted to head the management of the
airport.
“I don’t have a background in aviation, and I had never traveled
outside the Kurdistan region in my entire life,” says Abdullah. “I
had to read, learn and memorize the ICAO regulations and standards,
and the first time I traveled by air was to Turkey where I inspected
the airport and its operations to see how theory translates into
practice.”
Today, the airport employs over 800 personnel, including 78
technicians, 200 administrators, and 450 security officers. As it
stands, the terminal has a capacity of 350 passengers per peak hour,
for departure and arrival, but the plans are to expand this to
accommodate not less than 1,000 passengers per peak hour, he says.
Expansion plans also include improving the navigation system and
installing a radar suitable for a mountainous area, new storage
tanks for fuel with a capacity of not less than 2 million liters
(currently, the capacity is 600,000 liters), and building a new
apron with all capacity for cargo.
Currently, the apron has a capacity of holding seven middle-body
aircrafts and three wide-body aircrafts.
“The aim is to start implementing these plans within two years,
depending on the budget allocated to us,” says Abdullah. “What is
most important to us is that all these components of the airport,
meets ICAO standards, or for countries like ours, at least the
minimum requirements.”
On a monthly basis, between 3,000 to 4,000 passengers arrive and
depart for internal or international flights. Currently, there are
two flights a week to Amman on Sundays and Wednesdays; two flights a
week to Dubai on Sundays and Wednesdays; once weekly flight to
Tehran on Wednesdays; one weekly flight to Copenhagen and Stockholm
on Tuesdays.
There are also flights to regional countries via Baghdad, such as to
Dubai, Amman, Damascus, Cairo, Beirut, and Istanbul. Direct flights
to Istanbul from Sulaimaniyah Airport are expected to begin soon.
They will be on Mondays, but will depend on the number of passengers
or VIPs. At present, there are five to 10 internal flights per week
to Baghdad and Erbil.
The airlines operating out of Sulaimaniyah Airport are the
state-owned Iraqi Airway, UAE-owned Silver Airline, and the two
privately-owned Kurdish airlines Azmar and Sawan.
“Royal Jordanian is also planning
to come and they have already conducred two test flights,” says
Abdullah. “They are planning to operate one flight per week, maybe
within this month or second half of this month they will start,
depending on the number of passengers. If the number of passengers
increase, they will also increase the flights.”
Abdullah disclosed that by the end of May, more flights to European
countries are expected to be set up, to Frankfurt, Munich and
Amsterdam.
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