Erbil Airport (Hewlêr, EBL): arrivals, airlines and direct flights from Europe

Erbil Airport is the international airport of Hewlêr, the capital of Başûr. Booking sites call it Erbil International Airport, code EBL; Erbil and Hewlêr are two names for the same city. On a normal day about 15 to 22 flights land here, from Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, the Gulf and the region. This guide lists every direct flight from Europe, the airports where you can change planes, and what to arrange before you land.

The terminal opened in 2005, and its runway of 4,800 metres is one of the longest in the world. For you as a traveller the more useful fact is this: Hewlêr has more direct flights from Europe than any other airport in Kurdistan.

Direct flights from Europe to Hewlêr

Two airlines fly non-stop from Europe to Hewlêr: Fly Erbil and Eurowings. Together they serve seven cities. Fly Erbil flies from all seven; the table shows how many flights a week each route has and on which days they land in Hewlêr.

Fly Erbil from	Per week	Lands on
Amsterdam	1	Fri
Düsseldorf	3	Tue, Thu, Sun
Stuttgart	2	Wed, Sat
Cologne/Bonn	2	Tue, Sat
Hannover	2	Mon, Thu
Berlin	1	Mon
Copenhagen	2	Wed, Sun

Eurowings adds about three flights a week from Düsseldorf and three from Stuttgart this winter, on days that vary.

Days can shift with the season or a timetable change. The search always shows the real dates and times before you book.

Fly Erbil: Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart, Hannover, Berlin, Copenhagen

Fly Erbil has the widest network between Europe and Hewlêr. Düsseldorf has the most flights, three a week. Amsterdam is the only direct route from the Netherlands and flies once a week, on Fridays, which makes it the obvious choice for travellers from the Netherlands and Belgium who want to avoid a change. Copenhagen is the only direct route from Scandinavia; from Stockholm, Oslo or Malmö it is worth comparing with a one-stop ticket.

Our Fly Erbil guide goes into the routes, check-in and baggage in more detail.

Eurowings: Düsseldorf and Stuttgart, plus the routes announced for winter 2026/27

Eurowings started flying from Düsseldorf and Stuttgart to Hewlêr on 3 November 2026. For winter 2026/27 it has announced four more routes from Germany:

• Hamburg, up to twice a week (announced from early November)
• Berlin, once a week (announced from 4 December)
• Hannover, once a week (announced from 15 December)
• Cologne/Bonn, once a week (announced from 16 December)

Announced means the airline has said it will fly; we treat a route as running once its first flights have actually operated. If you live near Hannover, Cologne/Bonn or Berlin, you will soon be able to compare two airlines on the same route.

From Vienna there is no direct flight at the moment. A restart has been reported but not confirmed.

Flights with one stop: Constantinople, Doha, Amman, Dubai and more

From London, Manchester, Paris, Stockholm or Toronto there is no direct flight to Hewlêr, so you change planes once. These are the airports with regular flights to Hewlêr:

Change in	Airline	To Hewlêr
Constantinople (IST)	THY	2 a day
Sabiha Gökçen (SAW)	Pegasus, AJet	see the search
Ankara (ESB)	Pegasus	3 a week
Doha (DOH)	Qatar Airways	daily
Amman (AMM)	Royal Jordanian	2 a day
Dubai (DXB)	flydubai	daily
Sharjah (SHJ)	Air Arabia	daily
Beirut (BEY)	MEA	3 a week
Cairo (CAI)	EgyptAir	4 to 5 a week
Muscat (MCT)	SalamAir	2 a week

Sabiha Gökçen is the second airport of Constantinople, and flydubai flights are partly sold as Emirates.

Constantinople is the hub most travellers use, because THY flies there from most large cities in Europe and North America. Doha and Amman are often the alternative when the timing in Constantinople does not suit you.

Three things to compare besides the price:

• The connection time. A short connection saves hours, but leaves little room if the first flight is late. Two to three hours is comfortable.
• One booking or two. If both flights are on one booking, the airline takes care of you when you miss the connection. With two separate tickets, that risk is yours.
• The total travel time. A cheap fare with a night in the transfer airport can cost you a day of your holiday.

The route pages for London, Manchester and Toronto show which combinations exist from those cities, with live fares where we can show them.

Departures to Hewlêr in the next two weeks

Many searches for Erbil Airport are about arrivals: is the flight of a family member on time, which day does the flight from Düsseldorf land? The departure board on our home page shows upcoming direct departures to Kurdistan in the coming two weeks, with date, time and flight number, and below them the regular direct routes with their days.

The board is a schedule, not a live arrival screen. It shows what is planned, not whether a flight is delayed today. For the status on the day itself, the airline of the flight is the place to look, and it contacts its own passengers about changes.

If you are picking someone up, the rhythm of the direct flights helps. Fly Erbil flights from Europe land in Hewlêr in the late afternoon or early evening, and its flights to Europe leave early in the morning. Eurowings lands in the early afternoon and flies back about an hour later. That also matters when you plan where to stay on your first or last night.

Before you land: visa, eSIM and cash

Visa

Başûr has its own visa, valid only in the Kurdistan Region. Arrange it online before you fly; some nationalities need a local sponsor. The current rules per passport are on our visa page.

eSIM: install it before you fly

An eSIM gives you mobile data the moment you land, without hunting for a SIM shop in the arrivals hall. Three practical points:

• Check that your phone supports eSIM and is not locked to your provider at home.
• Install the eSIM at home on wifi, and switch it on when you land.
• Keep your home SIM active for calls and text messages from your bank.

The eSIM option below this article opens a provider where you can buy one.

Cash

Larger hotels and shops in Hewlêr accept cards, but many smaller shops, restaurants and market stalls work with cash. Plan some cash for the first day; US dollars are widely used and easy to change in the city.

The busy weeks at Hewlêr

Some weeks fill up long before others. The summer holidays in Europe, with a peak in July, bring the most families home. Christmas and New Year are busy too. In 2027 Eid al-Fitr and Newroz fall in the same month, around 9 or 10 March and on 21 March, which makes the first three weeks of March unusually full. If your dates fall in one of these periods, look at the fares early and keep an eye on them; outside them you usually have more choice of days.

Our guides to Erbil weather by month and Newroz 2027 go into these weeks in more detail.

Hewlêr, Silêmanî or Amed?

Hewlêr is the easiest airport in Kurdistan to reach from Europe, but not the only one. Silêmanî (ISU) gets its first direct flight from Europe in December 2026, from Düsseldorf; see our guide to Sulaymaniyah Airport. For Bakur, Amed (DIY) has direct flights from Germany all winter; our guide to Diyarbakır Airport compares all airports there.

Every direct route from Europe to Kurdistan is on the page with all direct flights. For fares to Hewlêr from your own city, open the ticket page for flights to Erbil: it lists the lowest fares recently found, cheapest first, and you book directly with the airline or travel site.