All foreign flights to Erbil to end Friday

ERBIL - 28 September 2017: All foreign flights to and from the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Erbil will be suspended from Friday evening on Baghdad's orders, Al Arabiya English quoted the airport director as saying, following a controversial independence referendum.

“All international flights without exception to and from Erbil will stop from 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Friday following a decision by the Iraqi cabinet and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi,” Talar Faiq Salih said on Thursday.

Abadi ordered the halt to flights serving airports in Iraqi Kurdistan in retaliation for the independence referendum held Monday in defiance of Baghdad which delivered a resounding 92.73 “yes” vote.

Regional carriers, including Turkish Airlines, EgyptAir and Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines had already announced that they would be suspending their flights serving Iraqi Kurdistan at Baghdad’s request.