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By SLOBODAN LEKIC
The Associated Press
May 30, 2003

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BAGHDAD, IRAQ – Iraq's national carrier, hard-hit by two wars and 13 years of U.N. sanctions, is preparing to resume service after a three-month hiatus.

In an announcement to employees, Iraqi Airways officials said Thursday that the company, once profitable, was working with the U.S.-led coalition to get flying again.

The statement said the U.S.-led Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance was working to complete the technical preparations.

"After that Iraqi Airways flights will resume, but this will take some time," said the statement from Halid el-Quaisee, the manager of flight operations.

On Wednesday, the U.N. committee monitoring sanctions against Iraq said that flight restrictions in place since 1990 had been removed following a Security Council decision last week. The state-owned airline has been grounded since March, when the U.S.-led coalition offensive against Iraq began.

During that time, several jetliners, maintenance facilities and offices at Baghdad International Airport - formerly known as Saddam International Airport - are said to have been damaged or destroyed in the fighting. Other aircraft remain parked at airports in Syria and Jordan.

The head office at the airport was taken over by the U.S. military in April, and the main terminal is still used as a makeshift barracks.

American officials haven't said when they will hand over the airport, or those in Basra and Mosul, to civilian aviation authorities.

In any case, the fortunes of state-owned Iraqi Airways have declined steadily over the past two decades, and it was not clear how soon it would be ready fly again.

"Nobody seems to be in charge anymore," said Hassan Dixon, a flight engineer who reported for work at a downtown building that used to house the airlines' staff club. "We have no instructions from management."

In the 1970s, the airline was considered one of the fastest-growing in the Middle East. Its aircraft - with their distinctive green-and-white paint scheme - included Boeing 707s, 727s, 747s and Russian-built Il-76 cargo jets. That expansion ended when the Iraq-Iran war started in 1980.