A Saudi airliner touched down Monday at Jeddah's King AbdulAziz International Airport, completing a round-trip voyage from Baghdad – the first flights between the neighboring countries since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The Al-Wafeer Boeing 747-400, which flew for two hours and 15 minutes and arrived at the Haj Terminal at 9.30 P.M., carried 450 Iraqis intending to make Umrah and visit the Prophet's Mosque in Madina. Sheikh Kazem, an old Iraqi man who came from Al-Najaf province, said he was really happy to be in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah and thanked the Saudi government for all its help and services for Iraqi passengers. “Once the plane landed at Baghdad for the first time after 20 years, I felt that I have got a new baby”, he said. Fourteen flight attendants served the Iraqi passengers, along with Saudi captain Ghassan Al-Hakeem, who led the flights to and from Baghdad. “I have been in Baghdad 25 years ago and it is a very nice feeling to renew the airline's relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iraq,” said Al-Hakeem, who added that there were no security or safety obstacles during the flights. Saudi youths marked the occasion of flight WFR1419's arrival by receiving the Iraqi passengers and giving them flowers and prayer carpets. The Saudi airline expects to provide two flights per week from Jeddah to Baghdad and from Jeddah to Al-Basra, along with future flights to Irbil. It will also use three 747-400 planes and 30 pilots to provide 19 flights for Iraqi passengers during the Umrah season. Al-Wafeer CEO Adnan Al-Dabbagh said that the airline's services are an important source of income for Saudi people.
