Baghdad will be Emirates' 103rd global destination and one of six new destinations to be introduced by the airline this year including Tokyo that began on 28 March, Amsterdam,Prague,Madrid as well as Dakar.

Iraq is the last lingering Middle Eastern destination to be frequented by Emirates. The carrier’s present number of weekly Middle Eastern flights sums upto 197, across 10 countries.

To begin with, Emirates will operate a thrice weekly service on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The route will be serviced by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft, providing a three-class configuration of 12 First Class, 42 Business Class as well as 183 Economy Class seats.

Emirates expects the traveler mix traveling in and out of Iraq to come from different sources, with a major skew towards industry and Government personnel. The construction, telecommunications and oil sectors are anticipated to make up three of the largest industry segments. Iraqi nationals, both in Baghdad and residing outside of Iraq are also likely to be main users of this fresh service.