A Kurdish woman has made history by becoming the first female pilot to fly a Boeing 737 in Iraq.

Warte Abubakir Ali passed all of her tests and became fully certified in civil aviation in Denmark in 2015.

She is now employed by Iraqi Airways, and has proceeded to make her groundbreaking first flight,

The Boeing 737 is specifically designed to undertake regional flights, and there are thought to be 26 in the Iraqi Airways fleet.

Media communications officers at Sulaimani International Airport made the announcement of the hire, saying they were proud of Abubakir Ali's accomplishments.

The Iraqi transportation minister, Kazem Finjan al-Hamami, also congratulated Abubakir Ali in a statement on Sunday, and expressed hope that her example could inspire other women to enter the transport industry.

Kurdish women have long led the way for feminism and gender equality in the Middle East, performing a variety of jobs and even forming their own all-women battalions against Islamic State in Syria.