Iraq invites private companies to operate Baghdad airport

BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities called on international private sector companies to bid for the expansion and operation of Baghdad's international airport after years of neglect in the conflict-scarred country.

In September, the government signed an agreement with the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) to invite private companies to upgrade Iraq's main airport.

Iraq "is launching a two-stage public tender to select a private partner to rehabilitate, expand, finance, operate, and maintain Baghdad International Airport under a long-term Public-Private Partnership [PPP] contract", according to the official document calling for bidders and seen by AFP on Tuesday.

It is the "first time that the Iraqi government, in cooperation with the IFC, opens its airports to private international investment", Farhad Alaaldin, the prime minister's foreign affairs adviser, told AFP.

It is "a step that will elevate the aviation sector to international standards", he added.

The deadline to submit bids is September 12, and the winner "is expected to modernise and rehabilitate the airport infrastructure, expand passenger and cargo terminal facilities... and operate and maintain the airport in line with international best practise," the document added.

The IFC, according to the document, "is acting as the lead transaction adviser for this PPP project".

Alaaldin said the tender process relies "on the IFC to have oversight over the project from its inception and to work on the economic model".

The IFC's involvement, it is hoped, will "give more confidence to the world class companies to bid", Alaaldin said.

"Iraq is open for business and inward investment is on the rise," he added.

Last month, Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani's media office said an IFC study showed "a compound annual growth rate of 15.7 per cent in air traffic" in recent years, with over 3.4 million passengers arriving in Baghdad in 2023.

It said the IFC proposed building a new terminal to increase airport capacity to up to nine million passengers per year.

Baghdad's airport has undergone no substantial renovations since it opened in the early 1980s under Dictator Saddam Hussein's rule.

It was closed in the 1990s due to international sanctions, forcing people to travel by land to neighbouring Jordan to catch their flights.

Baghdad airport is quickly overwhelmed when travel peaks, and its three terminals are equipped with only basic amenities.

Troops belonging to an international anti-extremist coalition are stationed in a part of the airport, and have previously come under fire.

Oil-rich Iraq suffers from deteriorating infrastructure and failing public services as a result of decades of conflict, poor public management and endemic corruption.