Iraq Restructures Airport Management Function

By John Lee.

As part of its oversight of airport and air navigation management and services, Iraq's Council of Ministers has approved the following:

1. Separating the management of Iraqi airports from the State Company for Airports and Air Navigation and affiliating them with the Ministry of Transportation, to be under the level of a directorate according to the Administrative Formations Law (No. 12 of 2011).
2. Renaming the State Company for Airports and Air Navigation to the State Company for Air Navigation Services and removing airport management activities from its responsibilities. The company is to amend its internal regulations and foundational statements accordingly.
3. Transferring properties owned by the Ministry of Finance and used by airports affiliated with the aforementioned company to the Ministry of Transportation. If such properties are owned by other government entities, they will also be allocated to the Ministry of Transportation. Movable resources necessary for airport operations will also be transferred. A joint committee of the Ministries of Transportation and Finance, the Iraq Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA), and the company will implement this within 30 days of the decision's issuance.
4. Transferring the services of employees at these airports to the Ministry of Transportation while maintaining their granted allowances under the State Employees Salaries Law (No. 22 of 2008).
5. The Ministry of Transportation will replace the State Company for Airports and Air Navigation in all technical, legal, and financial obligations arising from previous airport-related contracts by signing supplementary contracts or agreements with the contracting company.

(Source: Media Office of the Prime Minister)