NINEWA: HAJJ FLIGHT INAUGURATES MOSUL'S FIRST

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 003946 SIPDIS SECSTATE FOR USAID SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON PGOV EAIR EAID IZ SUBJECT: NINEWA: HAJJ FLIGHT INAUGURATES MOSUL'S FIRST COMMERCIAL PASSENGER AIR TRAFFIC SINCE 1993 This is a Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) message. ¶1. (U) In Mosul's first commercial passenger flight operation since 1993, Iraqi Airways Flight 020 departed Mosul Airport for Baghdad International Airport at 2230 December 2 with approximately 150 Hajj pilgrims. A second Iraqi Airways flight departed Mosul Airport December 3 with approximately 150 passengers. More than 2,500 pilgrims are slated to fly out of and return through Mosul this month. ¶2. (SBU) The flight of these IAW Boeing 727-200 planes culminated years of construction, planning, training and close teamwork among the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority, Iraqi Airways, local contractors, local and national politicians, the Provincial Reconstruction Team, 4/1 Brigade Combat Team, 1 Armored Division, 3 Armored Cavalry Regiment, 25 Infantry Division, and Embassy Baghdad, especially the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office, the Office of the Transportation Attache and OPA. The PRT worked closely with provincial authorities to identify what their priority projects were and, as a result of that process, allocated USD 3.2 million for the airport terminal renovation, without which airport operations would not have been possible. In addition, DOS spent USD 10.3 million on a new air traffic control tower, runway and approach lighting, and an instrument landing system for the airport. ¶3. (U) Both initial groups of pilgrims were scheduled to transfer in Baghdad to an onward flight to Medina, Saudi Arabia. Dedicated Iraqi officials showed great initiative in arranging these Iraqi Airways flights to meet the need to move pilgrims through Mosul. While the Iraqi officials continue to utilize this temporary measure, we are also working as a team to complete arrangements with the GOI's contracted Hajj air carrier. Chartered Hajj flights non-stop to Saudi Arabia, which had originally been scheduled to begin December 1, are expected to begin on December 5. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: Ninewa citizens have eagerly awaited the opening of Hajj flights from Mosul, which not only provide a safer, more convenient way for pilgrims to travel to Saudi Arabia, but also have come to symbolize Mosul,s reopening to the world after years of conflict and isolation. PRT will continue to work, together with the Office of the Transportation Attache and our military partners, to support the inauguration some time in 2008 of regularly scheduled commercial flights, as well as economic opportunities that will come with the airport's reopening. BUTENIS