Iraqi Airways

Is Iraqi Airways safe?

Iraqi Airways has kept a clean crash record for two decades: no accident and no aircraft written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary in the last 20 years, and none since the 1991 Gulf War. What it lacks is outside proof. The EU has banned it since 2015, it has no IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit, and Iraq publishes little about its own incidents. We score it 63. If you fly it, you are trusting a record that few outsiders have been able to check, over airspace that European regulators tell their airlines to avoid.

Why the EU bans Iraqi Airways

Every foreign airline that wants to fly to the EU needs a third-country operator authorisation from EASA. In 2015 EASA refused Iraqi Airways one. ch-aviation reported at the time that inspections had found serious breaches of ICAO standards by both the airline and the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority. Flights to Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and London Gatwick stopped, and the airline was added to the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary. It is still in Annex A of the list published on 9 June 2026, alongside Iraq's other large airline, Fly Baghdad.

The ban covers the airline, not Iraqi passengers' routes. Iraqi Airways can still sell tickets to Europe if the aircraft and crew come from an approved operator, and its booking site lists Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Copenhagen. Before you book, check which airline operates the flight.

Iraqi officials have promised a return to Europe for years. In October 2025 the transport minister said 78% of the requirements had been met and hoped European routes would resume in early 2026. The June 2026 list kept the ban. Two steps remain: finishing the corrective plan from an IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit and then winning the EASA authorisation.

The accident record

A Viscount was written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary landing at Mosul in April 1973, with no deaths. The last hull losses ASN lists as accidents are three An-24s destroyed in 1980 to 1982, during the Iran-Iraq war, with no details of what happened. The airline's deadliest day came on 25 December 1986, when hijackers tried to storm the cockpit of flight 163 to Amman. Grenades went off in the cabin and the 737 crashed near Arar in Saudi Arabia, killing 63 of the 106 on board. As on every airline page, we describe attacks but leave them out of the accident score.

Since flights resumed after 2003, ASN has recorded no Iraqi Airways accident. That counts for a lot: the airline flew 1,585 flights in September 2026 alone. We still score it below airlines with the same clean record, such as Royal Jordanian, because Iraq's investigators publish few reports, so small accidents may never reach the databases.

Incidents on record

What is public comes mostly from foreign airports and The Aviation Herald, via AeroInside:

• Tehran, 1 May 2024. A 737-800 flying from Najaf was cleared to land on runway 11R and touched down on 11L, which was closed for works with workers on the shoulders. Nobody was hurt. The captain read back 11R and then, at once, 11L; the controller missed the second readback. Iran's investigators classed it as a serious incident in their February 2025 final report: the crew had not paid enough attention to the NOTAM, the ATIS and the clearance while busy losing height, and the airline's dispatch had not briefed them on the closure.
• Baghdad, 4 December 2022. A 737-800 bound for Madinah rejected its take-off at about 146 knots. All main gear tyres burst and the aircraft stayed on the runway.
• Basra, 16 January 2024. A 787-8 bound for Guangzhou diverted at FL370 with a cabin door problem.

None caused injuries, but the Tehran landing was a serious incident with causes inside the airline. Bird strikes at Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, both handled without trouble, complete the short list.

The fleet

The Transport Ministry said in October 2025 that 13 new aircraft had raised the active fleet to more than 40, with 53 planned by 2027. The newer jets are Boeing 787-8s, 737 MAX 8s and Airbus A220-300s from an order for 31 aircraft. They fly beside older A320s, A321s, A330-200s, 737-800s, a 777-200 and CRJ-900s. Air Data News reported in 2023 that the airline could rarely use its first A220s because of problems with their Pratt & Whitney GTF engines. Iraqi Airways publishes no average fleet age.

Flying over Iraq in 2026

The war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February 2026 put Iraq in the middle of it. EASA's bulletin CZIB-2026-05-R2 tells European airlines not to fly anywhere in the Baghdad flight information region, at any altitude. It cites Iranian drone and ballistic missile attacks, air defence activity and armed groups. It also says Iraq's temporary airspace closures cannot be relied on to react in time. Iraqi Airways keeps flying in this airspace because it is home. Militia rockets have also hit Baghdad airport itself: in January 2022 at least six struck the airport and damaged a stored Iraqi government A300.

How to fly Iraqi Airways more safely

Read EASA's Iraq bulletin and Iraqi Airways' announcements before you travel; the current bulletin runs to 16 November 2026. Book a fare you can change, because Iraqi airspace has closed at short notice during the 2026 war. If you are coming from Europe, check the operator on your booking: a flight sold by Iraqi Airways but flown by an approved European operator puts you on a certificate that EU inspectors check.

How we scored it

The accident record (88) is the strongest factor: no accident in 20 years, with about 1,600 flights a month in 2026. The fleet (68) mixes new Boeing and Airbus types with older ones. Incidents (55) reflect the Tehran runway error and a thin public record. The environment (40) follows EASA's advice to avoid Iraqi airspace, and oversight (25) is the weakest factor because of the EU ban and the missing IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit. Overall 63.