STAMP ISSUES RELATED TO ICAO (from 2014)

IRAQ : 70^th Anniversary of ICAO

Issue date: 28/01/2014
	Boeing 737-7BD Next Generation of Iraqi Airways in landing position. Control tower at Bagdad International Airport in the background. ICAO emblem. The image of the plane seems to be a model, as no registration number is marked on the aircraft; only the inscription Boeing 737-700 is noticeable on the front of the fuselage. However, all the details of the aircraft are consistent and in accordance with the actual model. At the time of this stamp issue, Iraqi Airways had 2 Boeing 737-7BD: YI-AQK and YI-AQL.
	Boeing 737-81Z Next Generation of Iraqi Airways, registered YI-ASE and delivered on 12 August 2013. Building of Bagdad International Airport in the background. ICAO emblem.
	An Iraqi Airways Boeing 747-200C (registered YI-AGP delivered on 15-07-1982; aircraft in landing position at Heathrow Airport in 1983) over the world map. ICAO emblem.
		Upper-left blocks of 4 stamps with control number.
		Lower-left Blocks of 4 stamps.
Presentation Pack of this issue (3 pages). Boeing 737-200 of Iraqi Airways over the world map mainly showing the American continent. The text in Arabic is translated by: 70^th Anniversary of the Establishment of ICAO Organization. ICAO emblem slightly oval.
First Day Cover showing a Boeing 737-200 of Iraqi Airways over the globe. Emblem of Iraqi Airways in green; ICAO emblem in gold (mirror image and oval shape). Cancel in blue-grey. Hand stamp on the back of this cover:
Same as above with cancel in black.
Variety of above (see inscriptions at the lower right).
First Day Cover with two blue-grey cancels, one reversed.
Background: IRAQ was the first country in 2014 to commemorate the 70^th anniversary of ICAO by issuing a set of three stamps. The text indicates: 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF (ICAO), with the acronym of the Organization between brackets; it seems that this format was derived from the usual way of writing the name of the Organization in working papers, as follows: INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION (ICAO). After 22 years of suspension, Iraqi Airways, Iraq’s state airline, resumed flights to Kuwait on 16 February 2013 for the first time since Iraq invaded the Gulf state in 1990. In a sign of improved bilateral ties, Kuwait and Iraq came to a settlement over Gulf War-era debts, and were bolstered by a series of bilateral visits involving Kuwait’s ruler and Iraq’s Prime Minister. The pictures of the aircraft on the stamps can be found on the websites, in a slightly different angle or with the retracting undercarriage airbrushed out.