Domestic air passenger traffic registered a rise of 5% during the first month of the current Iranian year (March 21-April 20), as 3.22 million passengers were flown internally by Iranian airlines, new data released by Iran Airports Company show.
The number of takeoffs and landings remained unchanged in the month under review with 27,495.
Over 31.68 million tons of cargo were transported by air during the month, marking a 3% rise.
Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport saw the highest traffic during the period and accounted for 1.11 million of the total number of transported passengers (3.22 million), 7% more than in the corresponding month of last year.
Mashhad International Airport and Kish International Airport followed with 521,088 and 353,955 respectively.
Mehrabad handled 9,569 landings and takeoffs during the month, considerably higher than other Iranian airports.
The IAC data also show a total of 853 flights were operated from Mashhad to Tehran during the month, transporting 119,166 passengers to top the list of air routes with the highest passenger traffic.
A total of 118,157 passengers were flown from Tehran to Mashhad during the period via 851 direct flights.
Tehran-Kish route came next and was followed by Kish-Tehran and Shiraz-Tehran routes.
The above figures pertain to domestic flights only, as IAC does not report international traffic.
All international flights in Tehran are served by the Imam Khomeini International Airport and all domestic flights by Mehrabad International Airport.
The previous reports only included the passenger traffic, takeoffs and landings and cargo transport of the companies and airports owned by IAC, but the new report also includes private airports and companies.
Average Delay of 83 Minutes Per Flight
Domestic flights in the first month of the year were delayed by an average of 83 minutes per flight.
Around 24% of flights were delayed in the month: The longest average delay in flights was registered by Pouya Air with 122 minutes and the shortest by Pars Airlines with 53 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.
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, as some of them have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy. They are renting or selling their old aircraft to other larger airlines.
“Eleven grounded airplanes have returned to service during the past 100 days after their repair and overhaul by local technicians,” Jafar Yazarlou, spokesman of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran, said earlier in April.
The repaired aircraft included two Boeing 737, one Fokker 100, one Airbus A31, and three ATR, IRNA reported.
“At present, we are locally producing 1,000 types of airplane and helicopter parts,” he said.
Iran’s aviation sector has for years been facing US sanctions that prevented it from procuring vital spare parts for repair, leaving many planes grounded and causing technical problems every now and then that result in incidents, sometimes fatal.
Hamid Ghavabesh, the former head of Iranian Airlines Association, has told the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad 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.
According to Mohammed Mohammadi-Bakhsh, the head of CAO, no aircraft is sent abroad for repairs and all the work is undertaken by local engineers.
“We are facing a severe shortage of expert manpower for repair, maintenance, design and manufacturing,” he said.
The government of Ebrahim Raisi has sought to meet the increasing demand for air travel by pursuing three strategies: buying secondhand airplanes, overhauling the grounded fleet and airplane manufacturing.
The number of Iran’s airline seats has increased by 40% last year, as demand has increased 2.5-fold, Mohammadi-Bakhsh said in January.
“Iran needs 550 passenger planes in its air fleet to be able to adequately meet demand,” he said in a recent meeting of government officials on the country’s air transportation, Fars News Agency reported.
“A full-blown war is being waged by world powers against the Islamic Republic in the aviation industry. We are pursuing our goals in four areas of manufacturing, repair and buying secondhand, in addition to brand new aircraft.”
The deputy head of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran for international affairs recently confirmed the country’s purchase of four secondhand Airbus A340 passenger planes.
“Recently, four Airbus 340 have entered the country, which will soon join Iran’s air fleet,” Hassan Khoshkhou was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
