LONDON, April 27 (UPI) -- Lawyers for Kuwaiti Airways expressed dismay that an Iraqi Airways flight landed in London during the weekend despite a court order for their assets.
"It was unrealistic of Iraqi Airways to think that it could start flights to a jurisdiction where it owes $1.2 billion without consequences," Chris Gooding, whose law firm Fasken Martinuae represents Kuwait Airways, told The Times of London.
The Kuwaiti government is seeking $1.2 billion from Iraq for aircraft stolen by the government of Saddam Hussein when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
Lawyers for Kuwait Airways were carrying a court order freezing the assets of Iraqi Airways when it touched down at Gatwick airport last weekend.
A British court in 2004 gave Kuwait the right to seize Iraqi Airways assets as compensation. Iraqi Airway officials refused to accept the latest order, using an airplane chartered through Swedish group Tor Air to avoid having their plane impounded, The Times reports.
"Refusing to accept the freezing order is indicative of the ostrich-like attitude of Iraqi Airways to the debts it owes," Gooding said to the newspaper.
The Times said Iraqi Airway officials couldn't be reached for comment.
