BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government announced Wednesday that it was dissolving the country’s national airline in a bid to evade claims for compensation by Kuwait dating from Saddam Hussein’s invasion 20 years ago.
The seemingly drastic move was the latest in a series of bitter recriminations between the two neighbors over the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, which have not been tempered by the passage of time or the demise of the dictator responsible for starting it.
The decision stems from the fiasco of Iraqi Airways’ much-trumpeted inaugural flight to London last month, which ended with an attempt by British authorities to impound the plane and the brief detention of the airline’s chief executive, based on court warrants obtained by Kuwait Airways. The Kuwaiti carrier is seeking up to $1.2 billion compensation for the theft of 10 planes by Iraqi Airways during the pillage of Kuwait that followed the August 1990 invasion — part of an overall claim for $52 billion in reparations, of which Iraq has repaid about half.
Iraq says it no longer has any of the planes — six were sent for safekeeping to Iran, which subsequently returned them to Kuwait, and four were blown up on the tarmac at Mosul airport by invading U.S. forces in 2003, according to Iraqi Transportation Minister Aamer Ismail.
The Iraqi government is declaring the airline bankrupt because it is financially unable to repay the Kuwaiti claim in full, Ismail said.
The plan is to replace the state-owned carrier with a new airline that will be immune from the Kuwaiti claims. In the meantime, Iraqi Airways will keep flying, although it has suspended operations to its two destinations in Europe, London and Stockholm, for fear of further action by Kuwait.
Whether the ploy will work is in question. A lawyer for Kuwait Airlines told The Associated Press the carrier would transfer its claims to the Iraqi government, which would become responsible for Iraqi Airways assets after any bankruptcy.
