March 21- Iraq's Transport Ministry is eagerly awaiting the delivery of new Boeing aircrafts since it is looking to expand the country’s national airline, Iraqi Airways, said the Minister of Transport, Amer Abdul-Jabbar on Saturday.

At the moment, the airline has four rapidly ageing planes along with several leased airplanes. Jabbar said his ministry is hoping to get the first deliveries this year on an order for a fleet of 55 new Boeing 737s, 777s and 787s that aren’t due till 2013. "I believe 55 new planes are good to meet the needs of Iraqi Airways till 2020, since we are expecting to be more open to the world," he said.

Iraq had just six international routes a little over a year ago. These included Amman, Damascus, Beirut, Dubai, Tehran and Cairo. Today, however, it has opened routes to Turkey, Germany, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Pakistan. The country has also signed an agreement to open a route to the UK in the near future, along with a memorandum of understanding for routes into the United States.