Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has for further evaluation of the possibility of establishing direct flights from the UK to Erbil International Airport in Iraqi Kurdistan; and if he will make a statement.

The Department for Transport would welcome the commencement of direct flights to the United Kingdom from Erbil International Airport, once the security situation permits that. The current advice to UK civil aviation operators from the Department, contained in a Notice to Airmen, is that they should not overfly Iraqi territory.