We live in Erbil and fly in and out several times each year. The terminal is very small but modern. Prior to departure everyone completes a preliminary screening at a facility far away from the main terminal after which only passengers may board the free buses that go from screening area to the terminal. You will then be screened again before entering terminal and the final screening will be at the gate. Hello Taxi is the only taxi that can drive past the 1st screening point. They charge higher rates than other companies but usually have English speaking drivers and greater accountability. Must be reserved in advance. Local taxis will drop you at that 1st screening point. After your screening you will exit the back of the building and then an airport bus will take you to the terminal. The airport bus is not marked as an airport bus and sometimes it is only a van. On your arrival, if you did not reserve a taxi you can ride the airport shuttle bus to the airport parking lot and then get a local taxi. Local airport taxis are usually all white vehicles backed into the few designated parking spaces. The airport bus will let you out right in front of the local taxis. A man with a clipboard but no uniform can assist you. No English is spoken but they do recognize names of places. During peak religious pilgrimage times the airport can become very, very busy. English is spoken at the check-in counters but the remaining airport staff do not generally speak English. Terminal shopping is very limited mostly to alcohol and perfumes. There is no bookstore, no pharmacy, no bars, and no children's area. There is no restaurant but there is a coffee shop. Bathrooms are modern and sparkling clean but lack shower facilities. There are designated smoking lounges inside the terminal. We have had some problems with security at the departure gate removing items from our hand luggage. Such items included things that would not be a problem in EU countries. If you make a big enough fuss they may give them back. An example of such items were an expensive Turkish tea set, some unopened cosmetic items such as eye shadows, bars of olive oil soap, etc. When we tried to get our items back when we returned to Erbil after our holiday our items were gone. When transferring from EBL to IST be aware that your luggage will take a long time to be offloaded, re-screened, and you must enter Turkey (need visa that can be bought on the spot in many cases) to claim your luggage and recheck it unless your onward connection is in the same air alliance as Turkish Airlines. Upon occasion this has taken me 2.5 hours to complete causing me to miss my connecting flight onwards.

This is a very nice airport. The staff is professional and friendly for the most part. Although their security is a bit too much.

This airport is wonderful, the security is very good and the peoples here is very nice, it is a very big airport, they build a new and huge one now. Well, it was a pleasure for me to see Erbil, too, which is a very nice and modern place.

We all need to have a smoothest and shortest travel time to any destination we make, to maximise vacation time.. especially when it comes to avoid hassles from check points at Ibrahim Khalil, and the long way to get to and from the airport at Diyarbakar or Mardine. Good luck if you make a proper connection at Istanbul when flying from these 2 Airports. Wisely, all airlines operating to and from Erbil Airport have computerised the travel saving time and switched that time to a profit making ...WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT....

The facility of the new terminal has been completed for about 95% of the project. The government and Erbil airport have planned to open the new terminal at the beginning of 2009. It has cost well over 300 million US Dollars.