British airline British Midland Airways (Bmi) said it was 'ready and willing' to start services from London to Iraqi capital Baghdad once the two governments granted permission.

If granted, this would be the first time direct commercial flights are operated between the two countries since the first Gulf War of 1991.

Heathrow's second biggest airline Bmi already serves several destinations in the Middle East including Tehran, Tel Aviv, Beirut and Damascus.

The airline has met senior Iraqi officials to discuss the matter and flights could start in Spring next year, said a top Bmi official.

The announcement came at a meeting of over 300 delegates with Iraqi business interests met at a forum in London attended by the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri Al-Maliki and Lord Mandelson, secretary of state for Business and Enterprise, to discuss investment in Iraq.

Nigel Turner, chief executive officer of Bmi who also attended the conference said: 'It makes both geographical and economic sense for us to add Iraq to our growing network of services to the region.'

'Iraq is surrounded on four sides by countries that we already serve from Heathrow. We are carrying an ever increasing number of passengers who, at the moment, travel from Baghdad to Heathrow via our existing intermediate point of Amman. As trade and business ties grow we envisage that these numbers will grow,' he noted.

The only current direct link to western Europe is currently provided by another Star Alliance carrier and Bmi partner, Austrian Airlines, which flies to Irbil. Turkish Airlines, also part of the Star Alliance and another Bmi partner, flies to Baghdad from Istanbul.