The past week was quite a historical one for the flag carrier of Iraq, Iraqi Airways. On June 22nd 2023 the airline celebrated the arrival of the latest addition to its fleet, its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Let’s talk about the new plane and what it represents for the middle eastern carrier.
Iraqi Airways Receives its First Boeing 787 Dreamliner
As life normalises in Iraq after some bumpy years in internal politics and in a second moment with covid related issues, the country’s flag carrier is gearing up to have a stronger presence on the regional and global market.
The power up of the airline’s operations cannot take place without a fleet renovation which has been taking effect over the past few years.
The latest aircraft to join the Iraqi Airways fleet is the brand new state of the art Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. The aircraft now registered YI-ATC made the delivery flight from Charleston (CHS) in the United States to Baghdad (BGW) in Iraq in just over 13 hours covering a total distance of 10,651 Km.
The new Iraqi airways Boeing 787-8 will soon enter service, covering some of the longer routes as it is capable of flying up to 13,530 km (or 7,305 nautical miles).
YI-ATC’s Configuration
The plane is likely to feature a very standard 2 class configuration. That will reflect what was done on the airline’s other 2 wide body planes, the A330-200 and Boeing 777-200. Classes of travel available on the new Iraqi Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner will be:
- Business Class
- Economy Class
Image boeing.com
Helping Drive Iraq’s Economy
The arrival of the new IA Boeing 787-8 is a significant milestone not only for the flag carrier but for the country as a whole. Having planes capable of connecting the country with many areas of the world is key to injecting foreign currency into the local economy. Also a wide body, such as the Boeing 787 allows to carry a considerable amount of belly cargo. This will allow local businesses to export products further boosting the country’s growing GDP.
Just to give you a reference of how Iraq’s aviation sector has been growing, IA has registered a 40% increase in passenger traffic so far in 2023 compared to 2022.
What Other Planes Does Iraqi Airways Fly?
The Iraqi Airways fleet is quite a varied one, as it operates both Boeing and Airbus produced planes. At the moment, in June 2023, it counts 41 planes, of which not all are regularly flying at the moment. The latest additions to the fleet have been the new generation Airbus A220, Boeing 787 and Boeing 737MAX. Here’s what it currently looks like:
| Manufacturer | Type | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
 Boeing | 737-800 | 15 |
| Boeing | 737 MAX 8 | 6 |
| CRJ | CRJ900 | 4 |
 Airbus | A220-300 | 4 |
| Airbus | A320-200 | 3 |
| Boeing | 737-700 | 2 |
| Airbus | A321-200 | 2 |
| Boeing | 747-400 | 2 |
| Airbus | A330-200 | 1 |
| Boeing | 777-200LR | 1 |
| Boeing | 787-8 | 1 |
Where Does the Airline Fly?
At the moment IA flies mainly to destinations in the middle-east and in the Indian sub-continent. There aren’t any long range flights regularly scheduled to Europe, Australia and the US where there are however large expat communities.
