Services begin into Gulf Air's second destination in Iraq, Najaf

Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, commenced its new four times weekly service to Najaf in Iraq. The arrival of the maiden flight into the Holy City of Najaf takes the number of cities Gulf Air flies to in Iraq to two and the airline's total route network to 44 destinations in 29 countries.

The packed Gulf Air flight, operated by an Airbus 320 aircraft, carried a delegation of senior officials from Gulf Air as well as government, business, religious, diplomatic and media representatives and a number of guests.

Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Mr Samer Majali said, "A large number of pilgrims visit the sacred shrine of Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad, in Najaf and other holy sites nearby each year. As Iraq continues to rebuild and prosper we envisage that Najaf will become a centre of religious and cultural tourism. The potential is enormous and as such we plan to increase the service from four times per week to daily as part of our 2009/2010 winter schedule from 26 October, by which time we will have received two of the 15 new A320 aircraft we have on order."