Baghdad - London Flight Grounded By Legal Shock & Awe

The first Iraqi Airways flight in 20 years between Baghdad and London has ploughed straight into a decades-long brew of legal trouble. A High Court ruling in 2004 authorised Kuwait Airlines, which accuses the Iraqi flag carrier of seizing its aircraft when Saddam Hussein invaded in 1991, to seize assets from its neighbour. Airline boss Captain Kifah Hassan had his passport seized upon landing at Heathrow, and he's currently cooling his heels in a hotel, waiting for the legal machinations to kick into gear; the smaller country is after £776 million in assets it says were pinched. As for the future of the fledgling London - Baghdad air link? The plane, owned by a Swiss charter company, has since returned to the Middle East, but the chance of it returning to these shores looks unlikely. Maybe BMI are a better bet.