Passenger traffic in Iranian airports registered a year-on-year rise of 34% in the current fiscal year’s first six months (March 21-Sept. 22), as 16.02 million passengers were flown domestically by Iranian airlines, new data released by Iran Airports Company show.
This is while the number of takeoffs and landings posted a 10% year-on-year fall during the period to 140,574.
The significant rise in passenger traffic, despite the decline in the number of flights, is because restrictions related to Covid-19 were eased after airlines had been enforcing social distancing to fend off the pandemic for over two years.
Over 133.89 million tons of cargo were shipped during the period, marking a 40% year-on-year rise.
Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport accounted for over 5.93 million of the total number of passengers, 29% more than in the corresponding period of last year.
Mashhad International Airport and Shiraz International Airport followed with 3.18 million and 1.05 million passengers respectively.
Mehrabad handled 52,150 landings and takeoffs during the period, considerably higher than other Iranian airports.
The above figures pertain to domestic flights only, as IAC does not report on international traffic.
All international flights in Tehran are served by IKIA and all domestic flights by Mehrabad.
Monthly Review
The IAC data show that in the sixth month of the current Iranian year (Aug. 23-Sept. 22), a total of 2.67 million passengers were transported by Iranian airlines on domestic routes, registering a 36% year-on-year rise.
Takeoffs and landings posted a 13% decline to 22,743.
Over 22.51 million tons of cargo were handled during the period, 44% more than the previous year's 15.59 million tons.
Mehrabad International Airport accounted for 957,894 of the total number of transported passengers, registering a 23% YOY rise. It handled 8,328 landings and takeoffs during the period, considerably higher than those of other Iranian airports.
Mashhad International Airport and Shiraz International Airport followed with 559,561 and 158,025 passengers, respectively.
Iranian airlines operated a total of 797 flights from Tehran to Mashhad during the month ending Sept. 22, transporting 106,977 passengers to top the list of air routes with the highest passenger traffic.
A total of 111,322 passengers were flown from Mashhad to Tehran during the month under review via 773 direct flights.
Kish-Tehran route came next with the highest number of monthly flights, followed by Tehran-Kish and Tehran-Shiraz operations.
Average Delay of 93 Minutes Per Flight
Domestic flights in the sixth month of the current Iranian year (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) were delayed by an average of 93 minutes.
Around 31% of flights were delayed during the period: The longest average delay in flights was registered by Iran Air with 127 minutes and the shortest by Asajet with 34 minutes.
Technical issues are said to be the main cause of the long delays, as Iran’s aviation sector has for years been facing US sanctions that prevented 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 Iranian Airlines Association, put the number of operating aircraft at 157.
Arman Bayat, an aviation industry analyst, told the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad that the number of operational aircraft was 148, such that 44-47% of Iran's commercial aircraft were operational and the rest were grounded.
“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 roundtrip 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 estimated to be 28 years; some older aircraft are also 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 added.
Fifteen planes were purchased after JCPOA, 13 of which were small ones manufactured by ATR Aircraft. 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.
“Supplying parts is very expensive. Purchasing aircraft parts under sanctions at times imposes a 30% higher cost on airlines. Some aircraft parts dealers take advantage of sanctions and sell substandard parts to Iranian airlines, which raise the risks of air transportation in the country,” Ghavabesh said.
With passengers on board, the engine of Aseman Airlines’ Fokker 100 engine caught fire on flight from Tehran to Bushehr last week, IRNA reported.
The flight reportedly suffered a technical failure as soon as the engine started up. The explosion in the engine led to a fire, and finally, a firefighting operation was carried out at the Mehrabad airport.
No passenger was injured and they were transferred to the terminal; a replacement flight was offered an hour later.
