Why is it so expensive to fly to Iraq?

I don't wonder.

Anyway--what brought that on? It was good advice.

I get the basics of economics, what I am wondering about is why it is still this way now, at this stage. What I found surprising wasn't that such economic conditions work that way but that they persist in Iraq now.

Yes, but I'm probably not going (so please don't bother finding me deals people!) because this was research for a visa trip and I can't justify spending much more than $1,500 for airfare for a two-day trip. If I spend much more than that I'd need to stay a lot longer to get some cultural value out of it. My trips usually have airfare between $300-$600 and I can do Paris, Rome, or Brazil for a little over 1K and Iraq just doesn't make sense for me right now.

Plus, my brother says he doesn't know if I'd be able to see him if I went there so it doesn't look likely to happen.

Robert,
Break the flight into two sections. Costs will drop dramatically. Depending on where you are flying to, ie. Baghdad, Erbil or Suly, you can chose what airlines to fly and which city to fly to. Royal Jordanian flies to all of the cities, but you cannot book with them online. Austrian Airlines flies into Erbil.

Thanks bedholm, but I don't think I'll be going anyway. Even that way it would still be too expensive for a visa trip for me.

@dlowan, yeah, I'm still in Iraq. Currently at Joint Base Balad, which I believe is the largest military air base outside of the States.

@Robert Gentel, I suspect it's less about insurance and more about scale. There are plenty of American contractors flying into Iraq, but for the most part they aren't taking commercial flights. An exception is the Gryphon Airlines flight from Kuwait international, which is expensive (~$1200, round-trip) but worth it since Gryphon flies to Sather Air Base (the US military side of Baghdad International) rather than the commercial airport, which means significantly less hassle and more safety (assuming you have a military CAC card or other appropriate paperwork that allows you access to the base).

As others have noted, you can get cheap flights from nearby places (e.g., Jordan or Cairo). I haven't shopped around but wouldn't be surprised to see a round-trip airfare into Baghdad International by a Middle Eastern carrier for less than $500, although it might be difficult to get the best prices unless you buy them locally.

With the right paperwork, there are also free US embassy flights from Jordan to the IZ (downtown Baghdad), I believe (possibly among other options), and military flights from Germany and Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait (which you can take a taxi to from Kuwait International) to Sather Air Base.

Some people here have mentioned flights to Erbil. If you were interested in visiting Iraq as a tourist, that would probably be the place to go. It's within Iraqi Kurdistan, and as a result it would be far safer than most of the country for a Western tourist. Military contractors in Erbil live within the city itself, rather than staying within military bases as is the case elsewhere.

really...my wife is with 201st BfSB, who are you with?

Hey!!! How're they hanging, and such?

Are you liking it?

I've just come back from the desert!

@hawkeye10, I'm not in the military.

@dlowan, I like it fine. I feel like the lives of friends and family are passing by without me (been here for a year and a half now, with no plans to leave for at least another year), but the money is good. Everyone works long hours here--if I could get back to my contractual requirement of working 12 hours a day 6 days a week, that would be a nice break.

Edit: Which desert? And how's things and stuff?