Sulaymaniyah-Kish Flights Launched

EghtesadOnline: Direct flights between Sulaymaniyah in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and Iran's southern Kish Island have been launched, the director general of Kish Airports Company announced.

News ID: ۷۴۹۵۱۱

21 January 2020

Operated by Mahan Airline, the flight is operated on Sundays and Wednesdays every week, landing in Kish from Sulaymaniyah at 10:50 a.m. and leaving Kish International Airport for the Kurdish city at 11:50 a.m. local time, Ezzatollah Mohammadi also told ILNA.

The flight has been launched for facilitating promoting tourism between the two sides, Financial Tribune quoted him as saying.

Mohammadi noted that taking this newly-launched route into account, Kish International Airport currently operates flights to 21 domestic and foreign destinations.

Kish is a 91-square-kilometer resort island in the Persian Gulf, off the southern coast of Iran. It is part of the Bandar Lengeh County in Hormozgan Province.

Located in southern Iran, Kish Island is one of the most attractive tourist sites in the Persian Gulf and a pioneer in domestic tourism industry. It is also among the top tourist destinations in terms of investment.

Kish Island is the third most-visited vacation destination in Southwest Asia, after Dubai and Sharm el-Sheikh. Tourists from many—but not all—foreign nations wishing to enter Kish Free Zone from legal ports are not required to obtain any visa prior to travel.

Owing to its free trade zone status, the island is touted as a paradise for tourists, with numerous malls, shopping centers, tourist attractions, beaches and resort hotels as well as a wonderful climate.

With about 26,000 residents, the island attracts nearly 1 million visitors annually.

The Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran recently gave the go-ahead to the High Council of Free Zones to issue 3,000 billion rials ($22.9 million) worth of bonds to finance development projects in Kish Free Trade Zone, which could rise to 10,000 billion rials ($76.33 million), Secretary of High Council of Free Zones Morteza Bank said.

“Funds raised through the issue of sukuk must be used to invest in infrastructure projects on Kish Island, including the development of Kish International Airport, port and logistics as well as ICT infrastructures,” Bank was quoted as saying by IRIB News.