AMMAN, Jordan -- Iraqi Airways resumed international flights for the first time in 14 years, with a plane taking off Saturday from neighboring Jordan for Baghdad and another leaving the Iraqi capital for Damascus, Syria.

The Iraqi Airways flight from Amman to Baghdad was the state airline's first international flight since sanctions were imposed on Saddam Hussein's regime in 1990.

"This is the start of regular flights by Iraqi Airways," airline spokesman Raad Aghabi told The Associated Press.

As of Saturday, Iraqi Airways will fly once daily to Amman and Damascus, Aghabi said. Another route to the United Arab Emirates will be added later, he said, without specifying when.

An Iraqi Airways Boeing 737, flight number IA164, left Amman's Queen Alia International Airport at 8:30 a.m. bound for Baghdad Airport, Aghabi said. He declined to say how many passengers were on board.

Round-trip airfare from Amman to Baghdad is $750, he said.

Iraqi insurgents have taken aim at some commercial and military flights over Baghdad, firing rockets at aircraft flying to and from the airport, which also is used by the U.S. military.

To avoid rocket fire, planes are forced to make sharp maneuvers while staying within a secure perimeter over the airport. Last year, a DHL plane landed at the airport with its wing on fire from a rocket attack.

The road from the Iraqi capital to the airport has almost daily attacks by Iraqi insurgents against U.S. troops and their supply convoys. A car bomb exploded Saturday as a U.S. military convoy passed by, wounding three U.S. soldiers, the U.S. military said.

Flight IA129 to Damascus arrived at 2:30 p.m. Five crew members, three engineers, the commercial manager of the airways and another company official were onboard the Boeing 737, said its pilot, Capt. Hussein al-Bayati.

Iraqi Airways' commercial manager, Majid al-Wadi, said the company was planning to bring back planes that have been grounded in Jordan, Tunisia and Iran. He did not say how many Iraqi Airways planes there were in the three countries.

Flight IA129 was the first Iraqi Airways plane to travel to Syria since 1980, when the two countries severed ties over the Iraq-Iran war. Syria backed the Iranians during the 1980-1988 conflict.

Syria, however, operated several charter flights to Baghdad in the late 1990s after its ties with Saddam's regime improved, taking passengers and humanitarian aid to Iraqis.

An Iraqi Airways official in Damascus said the airlines would operate a daily flight between Damascus and Baghdad, with a round-trip economy class ticket costing $600.

Iraqi Airways is working to renovate its fleet by buying five Airbus aircraft and training Iraqi pilots in Arab countries, including Jordan, the official said.