A total of 399,415 round-trip flights were operated in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2022), which comes to 33,285 flights per month on average, registered a 44% year-on-year growth, according to the head of Iran Airports Company.
Iranian airports hosted 174,465 domestic flights, 14,539 per month on average, registering a 19% YOY growth, Hamid Reza Seyyedi was also quoted as saying by the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
The number of international flights registered a 192% rise to 47,096, he added.
The monthly average for international flights stood at 3,925 in the fiscal 2021-22.
Norouz Flights
During the New Year holidays or Norouz (March 16-April 2), a total of 2.37 million passengers were transported by Iranian airports, registering a 46% rise compared with the similar period of the year before, according to Seyyedi.
A total of 728,000 passengers were transported via Mehrabad International Airport during the holidays, making it the country’s busiest airport during the period under review.
The number of flights during holidays stood at 19,000, registering a 3% YOY decline.
“During the previous year’s New Year holidays, around 20,000 flights were operated, yet due to travel restrictions over containment of Covid-19 transmission, none of these flights operated at full capacity so that social distancing could be observed.”
Seyyedi added that the busiest Iranian airports following Mehrabad during this year’s Norouz holidays were those of Mashhad, Shiraz, Ahvaz and Isfahan.
Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport transported 454,426 passengers through 2,857 flights.
Around 8,868 tons of cargo were also transported along with these passengers.
Moreover, 111 cargo flights were operated by IKIA for transporting 2,988 tons of freight and parcels.
All international flights in Tehran are served by IKIA and all domestic flights by Mehrabad.
Bank Pasargad, Imam Khomeini Airport Town Company and Iran Airports Company signed a financing agreement last year for the development of Phase I of Terminal No. 2 of Imam Khomeini International Airport.
Under the build-operate-transfer contract worth €2 billion, Bank Pasargad will provide 80% of the financing and Imam Khomeini Airport Town Company and Iran Airports Company will each provide 10% of the funds, the news outlet of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported.
Imam Khomeini International Airport has the capacity to handle 10-12 million passengers annually. With the completion of Phase I of the new terminal, IKIA’s capacity will increase to 35 million passengers; when fully operated, the airport’s capacity will rise to 110 million passengers per year.
Iran Lifts Covid-Related Travel Bans
Flights to and from all foreign countries are now permitted for passengers that observe the conditions set by the National Coronavirus Headquarters, the spokesperson of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran announced on Wednesday.
“As per the coronavirus headquarters’ decision, all air passengers above the age of 12 need to have received at least two doses of Covid-19 vaccinations and carry a negative PCR test translated in English,” Mir-Akbar Razavi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official added that PCR tests should have been taken within 72 hours and a second vaccination dose at least a fortnight before boarding a plane.
Iran banned travel from several countries throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Last December, Iranian authorities prohibited travel from several European countries due to the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus.
Iran’s vaccination campaign sped up following the inauguration of President Ebrahim Raisi in August. More than 75% of the population have now been vaccinated, Al-Monitor wrote.
Middle Eastern states have shown mixed response over the vaccination of incoming foreigners. The UAE, for instance, allows both vaccinated and non-vaccinated people to enter.
