Iraq will begin receiving 40 new commercial planes on December 1st of this year, the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation announced Friday (April 13th) in a statement.

The delivery of the planes will take place over a month, the statement said.

The statement said an Iraqi technical committee will handle the preparation of the aircraft and their arrivals in the country.

"A group of the best Iraqi pilots are currently training in flying these planes," Feras Ali, acting manager of Iraqi Airways, told Al-Shorfa.

The entry of the new planes into service in Iraq "will provide many benefits for air transport in Iraq, especially in reducing air travel costs for Iraqi citizens who are forced to travel on international and private airlines that cost them a lot of money," Ali said.

"The air ticket prices on Iraqi Airways are subsidised, and Iraqi citizens have priority as per the company's law."