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Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the airport was named Saddam International Airport after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Although the name was changed in the invasion's wake, Baghdad retains its former IATA airport code of SDA. Its ICAO airport code is ORBS.
Saddam International Airport was constructed with the assistance of French firms between 1979 and 1982. It was designed to accommodate both civil and military operations, and can handle up to 7.5 million passengers per year in aircraft of all sizes.
It was once the hub for Iraq's international airline, Iraqi Airways, and was served by several other international airlines. On December 25, 1986, an Iraqi Airways Boeing 737 flying from Baghdad to Amman, JordanThe Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan commonly called Jordan is a country in the Middle East. It is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the north-east, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, and Israel and West Bank to the west. It shares the coastlines of the was hijacked. It later crashed in Saudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a country on the Arabian Peninsula. It borders Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, with the Persian Gulf to its north-east and the Red Sea to its west. Al-Mamlakah al-'Arabiyah as-Sa'udiyah, killing 63 people. (See Iraqi Airways HijackingOn December 25, 1986, YI-AGJ, an Iraqi Airways Boeing 737-270C en route from Saddam International Airport (now Baghdad International Airport) in Baghdad to Amman, Jordan, was hijacked by 4 men. Iraqi Airways security personnel tried to stop the hijackers,.)
Most of Baghdad's civil operations stopped in 19911991 like 2002, is a palindromic year. It also has the same calendar as 2002, including Easter on March 31. It is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January January 2 Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first blac, when the United NationsFlag of the United Nations The United Nations or UN is an international organization made up of states. Almost all countries are members. It was established in San Francisco on October 24, 1945, following the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in Washington, DC, b imposed restrictions on Iraq after the Iraqi invasion of KuwaitThis article is about the country of Kuwait. For the capital city with the same name, see Kuwait City The State of Kuwait is a small oil-rich monarchy on the coast of the Persian Gulf, enclosed by Saudi Arabia in the south and Iraq in the north. Kuwait is during the Persian Gulf War. Due to the no-fly zoneThe United States, United Kingdom and France proclaimed the no-fly zones (NFZs) in Iraq after the 1991 Persian Gulf War to protect Kurds in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south. France withdrew from the patrols in 1996. The United States and Britain imposed on Iraq by the United States and the United Kingdom, Iraqi Airways was only able to continue domestic flights for limited periods. Internationally, Baghdad was only able to receive occasional charter flights carrying medicine, aid workers, and government officials.