Air Transat has been given temporary approval to operate scheduled codeshare services between Canada and Iraq, despite the lack of a bilateral air transport agreement between the two countries.
The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) decision posted 07OCT, authorizes the airline to operate the international service using large aircraft.
The notice says the approval falls under Section 78(2) of the Canada Transportation Act, allowing the agency to grant temporary licences for international services not covered by an existing agreement or arrangement.
The CTA says Air Transat has been deemed “eligible to operate the applied for service” by the Minister of Transport after meeting all the necessary requirements.
The temporary licence will remain valid until 30JUN, 2028. Any further applications must be submitted one month before the licence expires.
The decision does not specify routes, codeshare partners or a launch date. Air Transat already has an existing codeshare and interline agreement with Turkish Airlines, which serves multiple gateways in Iraq, including Baghdad (BGW) and Basra (BSR).
It's worth noting that the Canadian government currently advises against all travel to Iraq, citing the "volatile" security situation in the Middle East.
As Open Jaw reported last week, Air Transat has also received approval to launch codeshare service to Cambodia, likely also in partnership with Turkish Airlines.
