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Kurdistan's
new Erbil international airport, with 5km runway, aims for
regional hub role |
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Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the
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Kurdistan's new Erbil international
airport, with 5km runway, aims for regional hub role
24.1.2007 |
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January 24, 2007
Erbil, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- Iraq's
northern autonomous region of Kurdistan is expecting
to open a new $300 million international airport
next year which the local government believes will
be essential to attracting business to the area.
While the Iraqi capital Baghdad remains highly
volatile, the northern Kurdistan region capital city
of Erbil has been relatively stable – although it
suffered a twin suicide bombing three years ago
which killed scores of people including several
high- ranking political figures, and another
devastating bomb attack 15 months later.
The present airport, formerly a military base from
which the Iraqi air force launched attacks on
Kurdish population, is a simple structure with few
facilities. It has a 1,500m2 (16,100ft2) terminal
and two aprons with eight remote aircraft stands,
plus a 2,800m (9,190ft) runway equipped with
instrument landing systems. |
The biggest aircraft in the world Russian Antonov
225 can land in the new Kurdistan's Erbil airport |
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This runway, designated 15/33, is set to become a
taxiway when the new airport becomes operational in
2008. Erbil international airport’s new runway 18/36
will be one of the longest in the world at 4,800m
The airport will take the biggest aircraft in the
world, including the Russian Antonov 225 cargo plane
and the American C-5 Galaxy.
“Capabilities at the existing airport are limited,”
says the airport’s general director, Taher Horami,
speaking to Flight in Erbil during an event marking
Austrian Airlines’ recent opening of a route to the
city.
“The new extension, new terminal and runway will
make it easier for other airlines to start
operating.”
Horami says the runway’s length will ensure that the
airport will be able to accept any aircraft type in
the future, and adds that he wants to see Erbil
compete with cities such as Dubai as a stop for
traffic between Europe and Asia.
Some ten passenger airlines – including Royal
Jordanian Airlines, Iraqi Airways, Mahan Air, Flying
Carpet, Viking Airlines and Kurdistan Airlines –
plus around six freight carriers serve the present
airport, which opened in April 2005 and handled
nearly 164,000 passengers last year.
Its new terminal, which will ultimately be a
T-shaped design, is presently little more than a
framework but will be able to cope with 2.75 million
passengers. UK infrastructure consultancy firm Scott
Wilson has designed the building while construction
is being performed by Turkish company Mak-Yol.
Funding is being sourced entirely from the Kurdistan
regional government.
The airport will have six gates equipped with
airbridges plus 16 remote stands, as well as 22
check-in desks.
Erbil will also have a 36m control tower and air
traffic management facilities to handle flights in
Kurdistan (northern Iraqi) airspace.
Air traffic controllers will be trained both in the
Jordanian capital Amman and at the Swedish civil
aviation administration’s centre in Malmo.
flightglobal com
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