SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Kirkuk International Airport (KIK) will inaugurate its first flight with Turkey on Thursday, according to an official.
Just a few weeks after the inaugural of KIK by the local authorities, the Director of the airport Hardi Samad told Esta Media Network that they will inaugurate the first flight with Turkey.
“At 2:00 p.m. local time the first flight from Turkey will land in KIK,” and “An hour after that the flight will depart to Turkey,” Samad said.
Esta has learned that prior to that KIK hosted a flight from Turkey but it was only dedicated to certain passengers among them several Iraqi MPs and officials were included.
However, today KIK will host the first “tourism” flight with Turkey, according to the Director’s words.
Located in the southwest of Kirkuk, the airport is capable of receiving 3.5 million passengers annually, It was officially inaugurated on October, 16, of this year.
Back then, the Iraqi government 2015 had approved plans to construct an international airport in Kirkuk province.
The airport has been built in the location of Hurriya military airbase on the outskirt of the city. The base was held by the Defense Ministry of Iraq but revamped into an international airport.
It took four years to complete the new airport in Kirkuk.
Iraq currently has five international airports in Erbil, Baghdad, Sulaimani, and Najaf as well as Kirkuk.
