ERBIL, Kurdistan Region-- More than 230,000 passengers passed through Erbil International Airport (EIA) in August as the airport recorded its busiest month in Iraq by passenger flights this year, according to Iraqi ministry of transportation.
With 2,492 flights landing in EIA, the airport has come on top of Iraqi airports, receiving nearly one-third of all flights to the country.
Kurdistan Region's other airport, Sulaimani International Airport received 1002 flights in the same month as over 63,000 passengers passed through its gates.
The ministry says nearly 828,000 passengers used the five international airports in the country, including Baghdad, Najaf and Basra airports.
Built in 2005 at a cost of an estimated $400 million, EIA has one of the largest airfields in the Middle East designed to receive greater cargo planes.
The airport has been a major import route into the region for a country which is virtually landlocked with no direct access to waterways.
The groundwork for a third international airport in Kurdistan was completed in Duhok city but has been temporarily halted due to the ongoing economic difficulties in the country.
