Emirates Airlines, Air Arabia and Etihad Airways suspended flights to Baghdad on Tuesday after a shooting incident involving Dubai's flydubai carrier at the airport in Iraq's capital.
"We suspended it right now," Reuters quoted Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Divisional Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations at Emirates, as saying. He also confirmed that the reason for the suspension is the accident. "That's why we suspended it," Mualla stated.
Officials told Reuters that the passenger jet operated by the low-cost carrier Dubai Aviation Corp was hit by bullets as it was landing at Baghdad airport. Although no causalities have been reported, two passengers were reportedly lightly injured when the bullets hit the body of the plane on Monday evening.
"After landing at Baghdad International Airport (BGW) on 26 January 2015, damage to the aircraft fuselage consistent with small arms fire was discovered on flydubai flight FZ 215," a company spokesperson explained.
Although Iraq had briefly suspended air traffic on Monday following the incident, most flights resumed on Tuesday morning.
However, much like Emirates Airlines, flydubai, Sharjah's Air Arabia and Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways have all suspended flights to Baghdad in line with a directive from the United Arab Emirates' civil aviation authority.
