Being one of the most important airports in the Middle East, Erbil International Airport, in the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, has once more been voted as the Best Emerging Markets Airport with fewer than 5 million passengers per year in African, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries. This is a significant distinction awarded to Erbil Airport by an International Jury during the Airport Show in Abu Dhabi for two years in a row – 2012 and 2013.
People who had flown to Erbil about 7 or 8 years ago and fly here again now are pleasantly surprised by how much this Kurdistan airport has changed and grown. From the small provincial airport of the past, Erbil Airport has turned into one of the most modern, largest and best equipped airports in the Middle East, thus being equivalent to major Western airports.
Before the liberation of Iraq from the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, Erbil Airport was a small military base. After the liberation, the vision of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government to turn Iraqi Kurdistan into a safe and prosperous area that would attract investors and entrepreneurs led to the opening of Erbil Airport in 2005. However, it took five more years of hard work for its technical standards and passenger facilities to be perfected so that it could become a Middle Eastern hub for regional and international passenger and cargo flights.
Today, Erbil International Airport is probably the most important airport in Iraq because of its safety and security and it is the airport that acts as the major gateway for people who want to come or leave the country without having to go through the violence-plagued regions in the southern parts of Iraq.
At the same time the KRG is also planning a further expansion of Erbil International Airport, which is the largest and busiest in the region, but there are important projects under way for the expansion of the airport at the neighboring Sulaymaniyah governorate. These are project whose cost will go up to $500 million. Additionally, there are 450-million-dollar plans for the construction of another international airport in Duhok – the third of the three governorates that form the autonomous Kurdistan region.
Erbil Airport facts
People who had flown to Erbil about 7 or 8 years ago and fly here again now are pleasantly surprised by how much this Kurdistan airport has changed and grown. From the small provincial airport of the past, Erbil Airport has turned into one of the most modern, largest and best equipped airports in the Middle East, thus being equivalent to major Western airports.
Before the liberation of Iraq from the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, Erbil Airport was a small military base. After the liberation, the vision of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government to turn Iraqi Kurdistan into a safe and prosperous area that would attract investors and entrepreneurs led to the opening of Erbil Airport in 2005. However, it took five more years of hard work for its technical standards and passenger facilities to be perfected so that it could become a Middle Eastern hub for regional and international passenger and cargo flights.
Today, Erbil International Airport is probably the most important airport in Iraq because of its safety and security and it is the airport that acts as the major gateway for people who want to come or leave the country without having to go through the violence-plagued regions in the southern parts of Iraq.
At the same time the KRG is also planning a further expansion of Erbil International Airport, which is the largest and busiest in the region, but there are important projects under way for the expansion of the airport at the neighboring Sulaymaniyah governorate. These are project whose cost will go up to $500 million. Additionally, there are 450-million-dollar plans for the construction of another international airport in Duhok – the third of the three governorates that form the autonomous Kurdistan region.
Erbil Airport facts
- The 4,800-meter long and 90-meter wide runway of the airport is one of the longest in the world and the only one in the region. This makes the takeoff and landing of airplanes safe even under the most difficult weather conditions.
- The airport features 16 gates along with 6 fixed-bridge gates that make passenger boarding and un-boarding faster and easier.
- In 2013, the terminal handled 1,193,780 passengers (a 26% increase since 2012) while its capacity is for 3 million passengers per year. At the same time cargo traffic increased by 40% compared to 2012 and went up to 38,572 tonnes.
- On average, 3,270 people travel to and from Erbil Airport on a daily basis, while the average passenger flights go up to 17 per day connecting Erbil to 30 different cities in 18 countries.
- At the moment, there are 22 Iraqi, Middle Eastern, and International Airlines that fly to Erbil from and to a large number of destinations.
- European destinations include Vienna, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Munich, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Larnaca, and Gothenburg.
- Middle Eastern, Turkish and Arab destinations include Cairo, Istanbul, Ankara, Amman, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Doha, Tehran, Beirut, Antalya, Basra, Najaf and Baghdad. There are also flights to Tbilisi and Batumi in Georgia.
- Some of the airlines that fly to Erbil Airport are: Iraqi Airlines for all domestic and some European destinations, Austrian Lines, Turkish Airlines, Egypt Air, Emirates, Zagros Airlines, Fly Dubai, Lufthansa, Atlas Jet, Germania, Pegasus Airlines, Middle East Airlines, TunisAir and a few more.
- The airport has special VIP areas for businessmen who travel in private jets, and a separate VIP area for diplomats and politicians.
- The airport is only 7 km from the city of Erbil and taxi fare to and from the city center is about $15 - $20.
- Erbil Airport was designed by the renowned UK-based Scott Wilson Group; its main contractor was the Turkish Makyol Cengiz, while its total cost of $550 million was fully covered by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
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