With passengers on board, the engine of Aseman Airlines’ Fokker 100 caught fire before it could fly from Tehran to Bushehr on Monday morning.
The flight reportedly suffered a technical failure at 5 a.m. when the engine was started.
The explosion of the engine led to a fire and the firefighting operation was carried out at Mehrabad International Airport, IRNA reported.
No passenger was injured; they were transferred to the terminal and another flight was arranged an hour later.
Iran’s aviation sector has been experiencing an increasing number of incidents in recent years.
There have been growing reports of technical problems and mishaps during flights in recent months, as Iran’s aviation sector has for years been under US sanctions that prevent it from procuring vital spare parts for repair.
According to the Association of Iranian Airlines, the country has 333 airplanes at its disposal, more than half of which are grounded, the Persian daily Shargh reported recently.
Officials and experts estimate that planes grounded at airports account for 50-70% of Iran’s total air fleet.
Hamid Ghavabesh, the former head of the Iranian Airlines Association, put the number of operating aircraft at 157.
Arman Bayat, an aviation industry analyst, told the Persian daily Donya-e-Eqtesad that the number of operational aircraft was 148, as 60% of them are grounded and only 44-47% of Iran's commercial aircraft are operational.
“Note that operational planes are not capable of flying for a long time; many of these planes fly only twice, the total efficiency of Iranian planes is between three and four hours; sometimes they are incapable of flying after one round-trip flight,” Ghavabesh said.
“This is while the young planes of Iran's neighboring airlines, such as the airlines of Arab countries and Turkey, are able to fly for a full day.”
The former head of the Iranian Airlines Association noted that the average age of planes in the Arab countries and Turkey is five to six years whereas the average age of Iranian aircraft is 28 years; even older aircraft are among Iran’s air fleet.
“Except for the limited number of planes purchased after the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [Iran nuclear deal], there is no new aircraft in the Iranian air fleet,” he said.
Fifteen planes were purchased after JCPOA, 13 of which were small ones manufactured by ATR. In other words, only 4.5% of Iranian aircraft are new.
Low productivity and frequent repairs of Iran’s old planes have increased the prices of air tickets; the operation of small airlines is not economically feasible, pushing some of them to the brink of bankruptcy. They are renting or selling their old aircraft to other larger airlines.
According to Ghavabesh, supplying parts is very expensive.
“Purchasing aircraft parts under sanctions at times imposes a 30% higher cost on airlines. In the meantime, some aircraft part dealers take advantage of sanctions and sell substandard parts to Iranian airlines, which raises the risks of air transportation in the country,” he said.
