Baghdad International Airport / New Al Muthana Air Base

Baghdad International Airport is the principal airport of Iraq and the busiest in the country, handling roughly 4–5 million passengers annually in normal years. Originally opened in 1982 as Saddam International Airport, BGW was renamed after the 2003 US-led invasion and has since reopened to commercial traffic in stages, with security considerations and airspace restrictions continuing to shape its operations. The airport's name and long runway capacity (it was designed in the Iran-Iraq War era to accommodate both heavy military and civil operations) give it a presence in Iraqi and Middle Eastern aviation out of proportion to its current commercial throughput, and it remains the operational base of flag carrier Iraqi Airways. BGW is served by Iraqi Airways, Fly Baghdad, Turkish Airlines, Emirates, Royal Jordanian, Middle East Airlines, Qatar Airways, Pegasus, EgyptAir, and Iran Air, with major connections to Istanbul, Dubai, Amman, Beirut, Cairo, and Tehran. Iraqi Airways operates 737-800, 787-8, and CRJ-900 equipment with service from Baghdad to European points including London, Frankfurt, and Stockholm. Domestic flights operate to Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Basra, and Najaf. Two main runways serve the airport: 15R/33L at 13,123 ft (4,000 m) and 15L/33R at 8,858 ft (2,700 m). Three passenger terminals (originally named Babel, Nineveh, and Samarra) were built in a distinctive curved, fortress-like Iraqi modernist architectural style. The airport sits 16 km (10 mi) west of central Baghdad in Abu Ghraib district, at an elevation of 114 ft (35 m). Access to the airport from the city uses the Baghdad Airport Road, historically one of the most heavily fortified and security-managed highways in the world, with multiple checkpoints.