Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, today celebrated the re-launch of flights to four prominent Iraqi destinations commencing with the first Al Najaf flight which departed Bahrain International Airport this morning. Al Najaf is the first destination to reopen with 4 weekly flights (which will be increased to daily from 1st December). Commenting on the flight’s re-launch, Gulf Air Deputy Chief Executive Officer Mr. Maher AlMusallam said: “We are pleased to be resuming flights to Iraq as it has been an important market for us over the years. Moreover, we have seen strong bookings since the announcement of the re-opening of our routes, and we are definitely starting off as we mean to go on.” Flights to Baghdad, Erbil and Basra in Iraq will begin progressively between 21st September and 29th October 2012. Baghdad will launch on 21st September with 5 weekly flights while Erbil will launch effective from 23rd September with 4 weekly flights increasing to daily from 28th October and Basra will launch on 29th October with 3 weekly flights increasing to 4 from 1st December. Flight schedule for Iraq Najaf - from 20 September with 4 weekly flights increasing to daily from 01 December Baghdad - from 21 September with 5 weekly flights Erbil - from 23 September with 4 weekly flights increasing to daily from 28 October Basra - from 29 October with 3 weekly flights increasing to 4 from 01 December Photo Caption: Gulf Air Deputy Chief Executive Officer Mr. Maher AlMusallam (third from the right) greets passengers boarding the Gulf Air flight to Al Najaf alongside Mr. Ahmed Abdulla Janahi, Director Ground Services, Gulf Air (extreme left).