Flights from Paris to Baghdad start by France's Aigle Azur next month

French private carrier Aigle Azur is due to start flights to Baghdad next month, France’s ambassador to Iraq Boris Boillion said.Aigle Azur will start flights between Paris and Baghdad in October,he said in a telephone interview from Baghdad.Aigle Azur, the oldest private airline in France, flies about 1.6 million passengers to about 30 destinations mostly around the Mediterranean and in Africa, its website said.

The airline, the third in France, has a fleet of 11 Airbus A319, A320 and A321 aircraft.Iraq, which decided in May to dissolve the national carrier Iraqi Airways because of a legal battle with Kuwait Airways, is trying to attract international carriers in a bid to restore links with the outside world.The country, holder of the world’s fourth largest oil reserves, is also eager to spur business activity as violence declines to the lowest levels since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the regime of Saddam Hussein.