Baghdad airport director resigns after Sudani scolding

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The director of Baghdad International Airport on Sunday submitted his resignation from his position, following an encounter with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani the day before where the premier strongly criticized the director for the airport’s poor quality of services.

PM Sudani conducted a visit to the Baghdad airport on Saturday to evaluate its services and facilities. A video emerged on social media soon after showing Sudani angrily shouting at Hussein Qasim Khafi, the airport’s director, during his visit to the airport.

“What is this mess?... How long have you have you been working here?” Sudani is seen telling Khafi in the video, before shrugging off the director’s attempt at a response by yelling “Enough!”

In his resignation letter, Khafi attributed his decision to a “lack of professionalism or support from higher references, in a way that guarantees the ability to continue the work and perform the duties in a manner that is befitting of the reputation and status of Baghdad airport.”

Khafi assumed the position of the airport’s director in February.

The resignation was approved by Iraq’s civil aviation authority, who offered their appreciation and gratitude for the director’s services over the last three months.

While visiting the airport on Saturday, Sudani criticized the lack of cooling, delay in baggage retrieval, and lack of organization, calling for a through and legal review of the contracts signed with the service companies.

Baghdad International Airport, Iraq’s largest airport, first opened in 1982 as Saddam International Airport, named after the country’s dictator Saddam Hussein. The airport was renamed to its current name after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Around 9 million arriving and departing passengers traveled through Iraq’s airports in 2022, almost tripling the number of passengers from the previous year, according to numbers from the Iraqi civil aviation authority. The number of flights also increased by over 150% compared to 2021.