Iraqi Airways will launch a three-times-a-week service between Amman and the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil on Saturday via Baghdad, a company official told AFP. Iraqi Airways also started regular flights this week between Amman and Iraq's southern port of Basra, the spokesman said, adding the four weekly flights would go via Baghdad. The company will be using Boeing 727s and Boeing 737 on both routes. Earlier this month, Iraqi Airways launched a regular service between Baghdad and Basra, and in February the airline made its first commercial flight from Arbil to Amman. The carrier resumed international flights in September 2004 with a Baghdad-Amman service after being grounded for 14 years. Iraqi Airways and Royal Jordanian are the only two companies to make regular passenger flights in and out of war-battered Iraq. But they need clearance from the US-led coalition forces to land or take off from Baghdad International Airport, which doubles as a military base.