Erbil International Airport


Erbil International Airport, is the main airport of the city of Erbil in Iraq. It is administered by the Iraqi Government under a committee consisting of the Prime Minister of Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, and is one of two international airports, with a third in Duhok being under construction. The new modern airport opened in 2010. The airport has one of the longest runways in the world.

History

The airport was built at the beginning of the 1970s as an Iraqi military base. The airstrip was used as a military base until 1991 by the Ba'ath Party regime as a result of United Nations Security Council establishing a no-fly zone over Northern Iraq. After the 2003 Iraq War, the Kurdistan Regional Government took over administrative rule of the region. On 26 May 2005, the airport was given the ICAO airport code, ORER. Endowed with natural resources including oil, natural gas and other minerals, investment in Iraq has increased since 2005 and the city of Erbil has been the recipient of foreign investments. Due to the growing need for safe access into the country, the Regional Government invested US$500 million in the construction of a modern airport.

Old airport

The old Erbil airport covered, and was divided into departure and arrival halls. It had three gates and a long runway with an ILS system. The Kurdistan International Bank, a Tourism Information office, the airline companies offices, duty-free shops, a cafeteria, and the Korek Telecom office were located inside the terminal.
The warehouse offered cargo space amounting to and consisted of an import and an export section. The cargo was handled by Dnata, a Dubai-based company.

New airport

A newly built, $US550 million airport was opened on 5 July 2005. The new airport is next to the old airport and has one of the world's longest runways, and is equipped for ILS CAT II operations. The airport's new terminal has duty-free shops and currency exchange offices. The terminal also has CIP areas for business jets, and there is a VIP terminal for visiting dignitaries and diplomats for the purpose of achieving international airport standards.
In 2010 Erbil International Airport had the least expensive aviation fuel in Iraq.
From 29 September 2017, until 14 March 2018, following the 2017 Kurdistan Region independence referendum, all commercial international flights were suspended. The airport remained open for domestic, humanitarian, military, and diplomatic flights.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

These are the airlines and destinations served from Erbil Airport:

Cargo

Statistics

Since its opening in 2006, the airport has seen increased traffic. Traffic was up 22% in 2010 and in 2011 demand was up 37% to just over 620,000 passengers. In the first four months of 2012 passenger numbers are up 52% with April setting a new record of 84,275 departing and arriving passengers.
YearPassengers% ChangeAircraft
movements		% ChangeCargo % Change
2006163,6194,894N/A
2007275,183 68%9,815100.5%10,000
2008302,000 10%7,74521%14,500 45%
2009356,850 18%7,557 2.4%11,533 20%
2010449,536 26%7,235 4.2%10,848 6%
2011620,365 38%7,366 1.8%17,864 65%
2012947,600 53%9,021 22.4%27,488 54%
20131,193,783 26%12,229 35.5%38,571 40%
20141,565,998 31%16,218 32.6%33,527 13%
20151,665,701 6.3%18,864 16.3%22,742 32.1%
20161,814,272 8.9%19,080 1.1%23,462 3.1%
20171,606,531 11.4%15,294 19.8%17,574 25%
20181,533,863 4.5%15,562 1.7%16,505 6%