Iraqi Airways (IA, Baghdad) has issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) to all "European" airlines for the wet-lease of aircraft for use in running scheduled flights between Iraq and Europe on the Iraqi carrier's behalf. It did not specify the gauge and number of aircraft to be leased, or its definition of the term "European".
According to tender documents seen by ch-aviation, eligible candidates must possess a valid "European" AOC and have a fleet of aircraft registered in Europe with valid airworthiness certificates. Eligible aircraft should be no older than six years of age and should have a dual-class configuration.
As part of the contract, the winning candidate airline will be required to base its representatives in Baghdad for day-to-day coordination with Iraqi Airways officials on all operational, safety as well as financial and commercial matters. During said operations, the candidate airline will also be required to train Iraqi Airways' flight crew to obtain EASA certification.
The deadline for submissions is 14 days from the RFP's issuance, October 15, presumably October 29, 2019.
According to the ch-aviation schedules module, Iraqi Airways currently serves Berlin Tegel, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt International, and Munich in Germany, Copenhagen Kastrup in Denmark, Sofia in Bulgaria, as well as London Gatwick and Manchester International in the United Kingdom. However, service to the EU is restricted to a select fleet of aircraft in Iraqi Airways' fleet - A320-200s - given the airline is currently barred from serving the bloc with other aircraft types as a result of EASA safety concerns.
