Aviation chief says VIP lounges at Baghdad airport breach standards, enable smuggling

BAGHDAD — Civil Aviation Authority chief Bangin Rekani said five privileged-access lounges at Baghdad International Airport, used by officials and politically connected travelers, violate international aviation standards and create openings for smuggling because their users are exempt from security screening.

Speaking on Sharqiya TV, Rekani described the lounges as one of the airport’s most serious regulatory problems. He said the issue was that special-access and ordinary passengers were being mixed inside the terminal, with privileged users moving through without inspection. International standards, he said, call for such access to be consolidated into a single facility outside the main airport building, supervised by one entity such as the Foreign Ministry or protocol office, rather than scattered across institutions inside the terminal.

Instead, Rekani said, Baghdad has five such lounges run by the parliament presidency, the presidency, the prime minister’s office, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and “a security body affiliated with the Hashd [PMF].” “These lounges are a violation of international law and open the door to smuggling because these people are exempt from inspection,” he said. He said he repeatedly raised the issue with former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, but “the file was not resolved because of the influence of these parties.”

Rekani, a veteran Kurdish politician who served as construction and housing minister under Sudani and ran the aviation authority in an acting role, was appointed its permanent head by the new prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, this month.

Rekani linked the lounges to wider political interference that he said had damaged Iraq’s standing in international aviation. “Baghdad airport is still not licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority because it is unable to meet the technical requirements,” he said. “Therefore, we are banned from operating flights to many countries.” Interference in inspections and the passage of people without screening, he said, accounted for “90% of the reasons for failures.”

His comments come days after security authorities at Baghdad International Airport intercepted a traveler carrying sixth preparatory examination materials, including seven booklets allegedly containing completed answers. Parliament’s Education Committee member Haider al-Mutairi described the case on June 11 as “another resounding crime,” alleging 61 booklets had been prepared for smuggling, including seven belonging to a student he called a “VIP.” On June 14, the Foreign Ministry denied social media claims linking diplomats or their relatives to the case, calling them “completely false.”