Al Najaf International Airport — Najaf, Iraq

Religious pilgrimage rather than business or leisure travel defines the traffic through Al Najaf International Airport, built primarily to serve the millions who visit the Imam Ali Shrine each year. NJF connects Najaf, one of the holiest cities in Shia Islam and the burial place of Ali ibn Abi Talib, to destinations across Iran, the Gulf, and beyond, easing pressure on overland routes that pilgrims have traditionally used to reach the city and nearby Karbala. The airport's development reflected a deliberate strategy to boost pilgrimage tourism as a source of revenue and infrastructure investment in Iraq's Shia-majority south following decades of war and sanctions that had left the country's aviation network badly depleted. Seasonal surges around significant religious commemorations can strain capacity, prompting periodic expansion of terminal facilities. Najaf's long status as a center of Shia scholarship, with its seminaries and clerical authority, also brings students and scholars through the airport.