Austrian Airlines to launch regular Iraq flights

VIENNA, Nov 9 (Reuters) Austrian Airlines said on Thursday it would start regular flights from Vienna to the northern Iraqi city of Arbil twice a week as of Dec. 11, nine months after it abandoned a similar plan.

Austrian, the first European carrier expecting to launch scheduled flights to Iraq, said it saw the capital of the country's Kurdistan region as a secure destination.

''With a population of nearly one million, Arbil is the fourth-largest and the fastest growing city in Iraq,'' Austrian said in a statement.

Arbil would serve as an access point for Mosul and the oil-rich region around Kirkuk while the United Nations also planned to establish a major base in the city, Austrian said.

Austrian announced in January that it would start regular flights to Arbil but cancelled its plans a month later following a review of the circumstances.

Partly state-owned Austrian was the first European airline operator to start services to Sarajevo and Pristina in the wake of the war in former Yugoslavia.

REUTERS SBA RN2031