Iraqi government is planning to invest $50 billion into the country's aviation sector to boost its infrastructure mainly in construction of new terminals, ATC / ATM, safety & security, IT support, maintenance, operations and all the segments of its airports.

A new economic hub is in the making with Iraq reviving its Opec market share. This improved trade across the border has resulted a boom in the aviation sector, said industry experts ahead of the ‘Iraq Airports Show 2014 – Conference and Exhibition.’

The event is being hosted by Sulaimaniyah International Airport from September 24 to 25 at Titanic Hotel & Spa in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq.

The event will see representatives from the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation Authority of Iraq discuss the aviation growth story. Also, airport directors from Sulaymaniyah, Baghdad, Basra, Erbil, Najaf and airport development project directors from Karbala, Duhok and Kirkuk will take part.

During the last few years, aviation has transformed into one of the fastest growing sector with Iraqi airways placing orders for new aircraft and airports in the country. Expansion projects have also been launched in Baghdad, Basra, Erbil, Najaf, Mosul and Sulaymaniyah, said the experts.

Iraq, they said, was building one of the biggest airports near Karbala named Middle Euphrates International Airport (MEIA). An international airport project is also under construction at Duhok in Kurdistan region.

More recently, direct flight services have been resumed between Iraq and Kuwait after a pause that lasted for more than two decades. The Iraqi carrier also opened air routes with countries such as Sweden, Britain, Malaysia, India and Denmark, in addition to neighbouring countries.

New direct routes also will be opened soon with other countries, such as Azerbaijan. In January this year Russian Embassy in Baghdad announced that Iraq and Russia were working on opening a new direct flight route between Baghdad and Moscow.

On the Iraqi Airways growth, the experts said the flag carrier had signed $387 million agreement with Bombardier, which followed a letter of intent for five of the larger version of CSeries and with an option on another 11 CS300s.

With incoming flights from around 30 carriers including Turkish Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airway, Air Arabia, flydubai,  Royal Jordanian, Jazeera Airways and EgyptAir, Iraqi airports are gearing up to handle the increasing passenger growth, they added.

The upcoming Iraq Airport show is expected to attract industry leaders from sectors including, safety & security services, ATC / ATM, ground handling, aircraft manufacturers, MRO suppliers and service providers, airport services, airport equipment manufacturers, suppliers, contractors, design & planning and services providers, banks, financial services, insurance companies and its allied industries.

Ram Muthaiah, the general manager of  Babylon International, the organisers of the event said, “The presence of airports cum government representatives and suppliers makes the event a must attend, because Iraqi aviation sector is experiencing a boom and through Iraq Airports Show we will be connecting major players in the industry to an emerging and lucrative aviation market.”-TradeArabia News Service