BAGHDAD, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Non-stop air service between Iraq and Europe, virtually non-existent the past 20 years, resumed Sunday when a French passenger jet landed in Baghdad.
Aigle Azur's Airbus A319 soared into the heavily guarded Baghdad airport shortly before dawn, delivering 111 passengers. The Daily Telegraph said most of them were traveling on business.
One of the passengers was French Trade Minister Anne-Marie Idrac, who said France wants to see French businesses cash in on Iraq's efforts to rebuild after years of war.
"It's unthinkable for French business not to take part in the reconstruction of Iraq," the Telegraph quoted Idrac as saying.
European airlines have almost uniformly boycotted Baghdad since U.N. sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990 after Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Kuwait. A privately owned Scandinavian airline flew from Copenhagen, Denmark, to Baghdad last year, but the service lasted only a short time.
Germany's Lufthansa had been expected to start flights to Baghdad last month but called it off for lack of interest.
