Sulaymaniyah International Airport is 14 kilometers west of the city of Sulaymaniyah in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. The airport encompasses an approximate area of 13.5 square kilometers. The combined capacity of the airport terminals is currently set at 1.5 million passengers per year and can be expanded to accommodate up to 3 million passengers annually.

History

Following the removal of Saddam Hussein, the construction of the airport began in November 2003, and it was inaugurated by former Iraqi president Jalal Talabani in July 2005. International flights were shut down from 29 September 2017 following a decision taken by the Iraq Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA), but the airport remained open for domestic and humanitarian flights. The international flights ban was lifted in March 2018. It is operated by the Iraqi Government since 2017.

Facilities

The airport has facilities for both cargo and passengers. Sulaymaniyah International Airport has three terminals; for departures, arrivals and VIPs.

Airlines and destinations

Cargo

Pradhaan Air Express | Tbilisi, Ras Al Khaimah Georgian Airlines | Dubai-World Central, Baku

Former Destinations

Statistics

As of 2022, Sulaymaniyah International Airport is the fifth-busiest airport in Iraq by total passenger traffic, behind the airports in Baghdad, Najaf, Erbil and Basra. Source: COSIT. Air Transport Activity Statistics, years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.