Erbil airport bars Iranian flight from landing ​

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iranian airplane on Monday was not allowed to land at Erbil International Airport, the airport’s director told Rudaw.

“A plane arrived at Erbil’s sky from Urmia today, but since we were not informed beforehand and they have no official permit or representative, we did not allow it to land,” Ahmed Hoshyar, director of Erbil airport said.

Erbil was scheduled to have its first two-way flight between Urmia and the Kurdish capital on Monday. However, Hoshyar said that the airport management had previously expressed to Tehran the need to have an Iranian airline representative at Erbil airport before the flight from Urmia arrives at the Kurdish capital.

However, the Iranian side seems to have ignored the calls and the plane was kept in the sky.

“We do not know what happened to the plane and where it is headed, but we have told the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority and they will decide if the plane will return to Urmia or land somewhere else,” he said.

Erbil International Airport houses personnel from the global coalition and US forces. It is unclear if their presence is related to the Iranian plane not being allowed to land.

Iran and Iranian-backed Iraqi militias are frequently blamed for conducting rocket and drone attacks on US installations in Iraq, and Erbil airport has on many occasions been the main target of those attacks.