French airline flies into Baghdad from Paris

 BAGHDAD — A French airline flew into Baghdad's international airport Sunday morning, becoming one of the first passenger carriers to fly into the capital direct from western Europe since before the Gulf War.

The inaugural flight by France's Aigle Azur, which touched down shortly after 6 a.m. local time, consisted of French officials and was largely ceremonial. The airline won't begin regularly scheduled flights for another two to three months but if successful, the flights would mark an important milestone in Iraq's economic development.

Some carriers, such as Austrian Airlines, fly from western Europe to the Kurdish city of Irbil. Regional airlines such as the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, Bahrain's Gulf Air, the Beirut-based MEA airline and Turkish Airlines fly to the Iraqi capital.

But there are no direct passenger flights between Baghdad and western Europe. The Stockholm-based Nordic Airways launched commercial flights to Baghdad from Copenhagen, Denmark in January 2009 but its operating license was revoked later that month.

The lack of major European carriers flying to Baghdad shows the difficulties the country is having attracting major foreign investments in anything but the surest economic bets. Although some western companies bid on the country's first round of oil licensing last year, it was only for the biggest and safest fields.

Attempts by Iraq's national carrier, Iraqi Airways, to launch flights to London last April were swiftly squashed when lawyers for neighboring Kuwait tried to confiscate the inaugural plane after it touched down in London to settle debts from the 1990 invasion by Iraq of Kuwait.

The Aigle Azur flight landed Sunday morning at Baghdad International Airport after taking off late Saturday from Paris. A delegation of French business leaders planning to attend the Baghdad International Fair, an annual showcase designed to attract businesses to Iraq, was on board.

Airline officials said regular commercial flights won't start for another two to three months, and tickets will go on sale soon. The French airline plans to fly into Baghdad twice a week from Charles de Gaulle.

Aigle Azur is a French carrier that flies from Paris's Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports to locations mainly in Africa, such as Algeria, Mali, Morocco and Tunisia. They also operate flights to the French cities of Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Mulhouse and Toulouse.

The German carrier, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, was slated to begin regular flights between Munich and Baghdad Sept. 30 but canceled them due to a lack of customer interest.

The news was a blow to Iraq's hopes to reconnect Baghdad with international capitals since most western airlines discontinued flights to the city following the 1991 Gulf War.

For years, many of the regional and western carriers shied away from Iraq due to safety concerns. The few airlines who did fly into and out of the airport formerly named after Saddam Hussein performed a tight corkscrew when landing, a spiraling maneuver designed to protect them from missile attack.