COORDINATION PROBLEMS HAMPER DIRECT FLIGHTS

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000377 C O R R E C T E D COPY - ADDING SENSITIVE CAPTION SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR ECON IZ PGOV TU SUBJECT: COORDINATION PROBLEMS HAMPER DIRECT FLIGHTS BETWEEN ISTANBUL AND ERBIL ¶1. (SBU) Privately owned Turkish airline Atlasjet on June 29 started regularly scheduled commercial direct flights between Istanbul and Erbil in Northern Iraq. According to CEO Orhan Coskun, Atlasjet will run five flights per week, transporting roughly 3,000 passengers monthly. Coskun and Director for Flight Operations Ahmet Ata, however, complained to us that poor coordination between Atlasjet and the Iraqi Civilian Aviation Authority (ICAA) caused a delay on at least one of their flights. Ata provided us an email from July 3 where the ICAA blamed a computer problem at the U.S. Air Force control in Kirkuk (RAM CC) for a delay in flight authorization. Coskun said using ICAA as a go-between was cumbersome and he requested a direct point of contact to both RAM CC and Erbil Control. Ata also requested greater advance authorization notice for their weekly flight plan. Currently, Atlasjet only receives 24 hour notice before each flight, according to Ata. Both Coskun and Ata understood the difficult situation in Iraq, but they requested better coordination to avoid unnecessary problems. ¶2. (SBU) Both Coskun and Ata expressed optimism about the airline's new routes. Atlasjet is primarily a domestic carrier and, before the flights to Erbil, the airline's only international flights were charter. Ata was pleased with the number of passengers so far. He told us the planes were nearly full, and the volume about the same in each direction. If all goes well, Coskun said, the airline will add an additional flight per week by September. According to Coskun, Atlasjet could later provide direct flights to Erbil from other Turkish cites, such as Antalya. Coskun also said, however, flights from Istanbul to Baghdad are not commercially viable due to security concerns. ¶3. (U) Ata was pleasantly surprise with the security and facilities at Erbil, when he visited the city in preparation for the new route. Ata found Erbil to be a growing city with great market potential for international flights. Ata was encouraged by the number of people in Erbil who spoke Turkish. Because of the widespread use of Turkish, Kurdish was not a necessary language for the flight attendants. ¶4. (U) Past Turkish commercial ventures for direct flights between Istanbul and Northern Iraq have failed. Regional Turkish airline Fly Air started limited service to Erbiland Sulaymaniyah in 2005, but the airline terminted these flights less than one year later when te lease ended on its two aircraft dedicated for his route. There are several airlines operating ut of Erbil with Austrian Air flying between Viena-Erbil five times a week and Royal Jordanian hs six flights a week between Amman-Erbil. Also, a Krdish carrier -- Laveen Air, part of the Zagros Group -- flies to Istanbul three times a week. IENER