On this day, 28 years ago, April 9, 1997 (March 3, 1997 in the lunar calendar), an Iraq passenger plane made its first cross-border flight since the Gulf War. On April 9, 1997, an Iraq passenger plane made its first cross-border flight since the end of the Gulf War in 1990. On this day, an Iraq Airlines passenger plane carrying 104 Iraq pilgrims took off from a military airport in Baghdad and arrived at Saudi Arabia's Jeddah airport that day. On the 27th, Iraq helicopters escorted Iraq pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia back home.