Over 10 years after ISIS takeover, Iraq's Mosul Airport reopens: What to know
The airport has been out of operation since the fall of the northern Iraqi city to the Islamic State in 2014.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani inaugurated Mosul’s newly restored airport on Wednesday, marking a major milestone in the city's recovery more than 10 years after it was reduced to rubble during the fight against the Islamic State.
What happened: The Iraqi prime minister landed at northern Iraq’s Mosul International Airport for an inauguration ceremony on Wednesday aboard one of the first aircraft to touch down since the facility’s rehabilitation.
In pictures: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Wednesday inaugurated Mosul International Airport
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📸: Iraq's state media pic.twitter.com/MdKkUnFwwz
According to a statement by Sudani’s office, he "toured the airport's departments, facilities and reception and departure halls and viewed the control tower” while there.
Know more: Mosul Airport is expected to be fully operational within two months and “will serve as an additional link between Mosul and the rest of Iraq and the region,” the statement read.
The main runway has been extended and widened. The airport will be capable of handling 630,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of cargo annually. It will also feature a new main terminal, VIP lounge and an advanced radar surveillance system, according to Iraq’s state news agency INA.
Wednesday’s reopening comes almost three years after former Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi inaugurated the airport's reconstruction, announcing that the repair work was granted to two Turkish companies, TAV Construction and 77 Construction.
It is unclear how much the airport reconstruction cost, but in 2017, the World Bank approved a $400 million financial assistance package for Iraq's reconstruction and rehabilitation, including in Mosul. A donor conference the following year saw Kuwait, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, among others, pledge $30 billion in investments, grants and loans for Iraq's reconstruction.
A trial flight operated by Iraqi Airways from Baghdad landed at the airport in early June. A spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Transport told INA that Iraqi Airways, the country’s national carrier, would be the first airline to operate flights to and from Mosul.
Background: Mosul was once a stronghold of ISIS, which seized control of the city in June 2014. The group declared its caliphate from Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, after a sweeping campaign across Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Following the takeover, ISIS militants destroyed the infrastructure within the airport compound to prevent Iraqi forces from using it. Satellite imagery obtained by Stratfor in October 2016 showed wide trenches cut across the runways and rubble strewn along taxiways.
The airport and a nearby military base remained under ISIS control until Feb. 23, 2017, when Iraqi forces stormed the complex.
A US-led coalition was formed in 2014 to combat ISIS and launched a sustained military campaign across Iraq and Syria. The group’s territorial rule officially ended in March 2019, when US-backed Kurdish forces captured Baghouz, the last ISIS-held town in eastern Syria, though raids on remaining hideouts continue.
