Iraq to buy 40 aircraft from Boeing

Iraq's government said on Tuesday it had agreed to buy 40 new aircraft from US manufacturer Boeing and another six from the Canadian company Bombardier.

It has also agreed to buy another four used aircraft from Boeing and has the right to buy another 10 new aircraft from the Seattle-based company, government spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh said.

Iraqi Airways, one of the oldest airlines in the Middle East, owns just two aircraft and leases a limited number of others.

Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 sparked UN economic sanctions which grounded the airline. It moved its 17 jets to secret locations, mainly in Jordan where a number of battered planes can be seen dumped at the far end of Amman's airport.

The airline resumed flying after the US-led invasion in 2003 and it now operates flights to Cairo, Damascus, Amman, Beirut and Dubai.

It also operates three domestic routes from Baghdad, to Arbil and to Sulaimaniyah in the autonomous northern Kurdish region, and to Basra in the south. (AFP)