Iraqi Airways resumes Kuwait flights after two decades

An Iraqi Airways plane landed in Kuwait City on Wednesday for the first time since Iraq's invasion of the emirate in August 1990, after a commercial dispute was resolved.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and Transport Minister Hadi al-Amari flew in on an Airbus A320, to a welcome from Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah.

Kuwait and Iraq's national carriers reached an agreement late last year to resolve a 22-year-old commercial dispute, with Iraqi Airways agreeing to pay $500 million to Kuwait Airways.

Under orders from former dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait in August 1990 but were driven out seven months later by a US-led international coalition.

Kuwait Airways chief Sami al-Nisf, quoted by official news agency KUNA, said the Iraqi carrier will make four flights a week to the emirate, while only private Kuwaiti carriers are flying the route.