National carrier Egyptair has resumed direct flights to Iraq after a break of 21 years, said a report. The service was scrapped in 1990 after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Egyptair would fly four times a week to Baghdad and thrice a wek to Arbil, capital of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, said a AFP report citing the airline's chairman Hussein Massoud.

"The first Cairo-Baghdad flight left today with about 30 passengers on board," Massoud added.