Baghdad prevents Nile Air plane from landing, Egypt denies

CAIRO - 29 March 2018: Iraqi civil aviation authorities prevented an Egyptian airplane from landing in the International Airport of Baghdad, with no stated reasons, according to Iraqi local media outlets on Thursday.

Egypt Today has tried to contact Egyptian officials from the civil aviation ministry, and the Nile Company whose plane was prevented from landing in Baghdad airport, but all the reached sources have given different and contradictory answers.

An official source at the Civil Aviation Ministry, who asked to remain anonymous, told Egypt Today that the failure of the landing was due to the bad weather which hindered a successful landing in Baghdad.

On the other hand, a source at the Nile Air Company, who asked to remain anonymous as well, denied to Egypt Today the incident categorically and said, "Today's flight from Cairo to Baghdad was not carried out and the airplane had never left Cairo today."

"The Iraqi civil aviation authority prevented a civil airplane owned by Nile Company from landing in Baghdad International Airport without prior notice," said a well-informed source to Iraqi Al-Sumariah News.

The source added that the Egyptian Nile Air Company had asserted it will reply with a similar action to the Iraqi airlines, adding, "The Nile Company will address the Egyptian concerned authorities to deal similarly with the Iraqi airplanes according to the related agreements signed between the two parties."

Additional reporting by Rehab Nabil