Baghdad Airport to open to commercial flights next month

Baghdad International Airport will open next month to commercial flights, a step that may speed the effort to jumpstart Iraq's economy, said Andrew Natsios, administrator for the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

"Sometime in July, they will open the airport for commercial flights," Natsios said in an interview during a meeting of the World Economic Forum at the Dead Sea resort near Amman, Jordan.

Seven weeks after the US and British military campaign to topple Saddam Hussein's government, USAID officials are shifting their priorities to practical steps that can help the economy quickly, Natsios said. Commercial air service is an example of a service that has become a high priority, he said.

"We cannot get people in the country. If you're not on a military flight or a humanitarian flight, how do you get in the country? How do we get businessmen in who want to start businesses?" Natsios said. "There are things that we did that are now taking greater importance."

Bahrain-based Gulf Air, Emirates and British Airways Plc are among the airlines considering flying to Baghdad airport, US officials said. The airport, damaged during the US-led invasion, is undergoing international certification.

Earlier this month, Northwest Airlines Corp, World Airways Inc and Kalitta Air LLC won tentative US permission to offer scheduled flights between the US and Iraq after a 13-year suspension of services between the countries.