Domestic air passenger traffic registered a year-on-year rise of 17% during the current Iranian year’s first 10 months (March 21-Dec. 21, 2022), as 26.72 million passengers were flown internally by Iranian airlines, new data released by Iran Airports Company show.
This is while the number of takeoffs and landings posted a 10% fall during the period to reach 233,336 YOY.
The surge 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 220.79 million tons of cargo were transported by air during the period, marking a 19% year-on-year rise.
Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport accounted for 10.1 million of the total number of transported passengers (26.72 million), 15% more than in the corresponding period of last year.
Mashhad International Airport and Shiraz International Airport followed with 5.14 million and 1.73 million respectively.
Mehrabad handled 88,251 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 the Imam Khomeini International Airport and all domestic flights by Mehrabad International Airport.
Domestic passenger traffic had registered a rise of 24% in the fiscal 2021-22, as 28.03 million passengers were flown internally by Iranian airlines during the period.
The number of takeoffs and landings posted a 17% rise compared to the previous year to reach 304,893.
Over 232.76 million tons of cargos were transported last year, marking a 34% rise.
Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport accounted for 10.9 million of the total number of passengers, 19% more than in the previous year.
Mashhad International Airport and Shiraz International Airport followed with 4.61 million and 1.9 million passengers respectively.
Mehrabad handled 115,236 landings and takeoffs during the period, considerably higher than other Iranian airports.
IAC registered 57% growth in the number of foreign flights passing through Iranian airspace during the year under review.
A total of 168,418 foreign flights flew over Iranian airspace during the period, which figure stood at 107,614 in the year before.
A total of 728,000 passengers were transported via Mehrabad International Airport during the Iranian New Year holidays or Norouz (March 16-April 2), 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 fall.
During the previous year’s New Year holidays, around 20,000 flights were operated, but due to travel restrictions for containment of Covid-19 pandemic, none of these flights operated at full capacity so that social distancing could be observed.
During the Norouz holidays, the busiest Iranian airports after Mehrabad were Mashhad, Shiraz, Ahvaz and Isfahan international airports.
Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport transported 454,426 passengers via 2,857 flights.
Around 8,868 tons of cargo were transported by these passengers.
Moreover, 111 cargo flights were operated by IKIA, which transported 2,988 tons of freight and parcels.
