Baghdad, Sept. 18 (SANA)Iraq has opened areas of its airspace previously reserved for military operations to civilian aviation, theTransport Ministrysaid Friday, a move expected to allow new flight routes and improve air traffic flows.

Ehab Karim, director of the General Company for Airports and Air Navigation Management, said the Air Operations Center had formally confirmed that areas listed for military use inIraq’s Aeronautical Information Publication were no longer needed for military operations, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

Karim said all previously restricted airspace in western Iraq, stretching from north to south, had been handed over to the company for civilian aviation use.

The move followed several years of technical and institutional work carried out in coordination with Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir al-Shammari, director of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Karim said.

He said the changes would pave the way for the restricted areas to be removed from Iraq’s aviation publications and made available to international airlines.

Restrictions on civilian flights through the areas began in 2016 and 2017. Reopening the airspace would provide greater flexibility for establishing new routes, improve air traffic flows and generate additional revenue, Karim said.

Iraqi airports are ready to serve domestic and international airlines once the new routes are opened, he added.

Large areas of Iraqi airspace had been reserved for military and security operations for nearly a decade following the spread of the terrorist organization ISIS across parts of the country in 2014.