Domestic air passenger traffic registered a rise of 1% during the first quarter of the current Iranian year (March 21-June 21), as 9.22 million passengers were flown internally by Iranian airlines, new data released by Iran Airports Company show.
The number of takeoffs and landings decreased by 2% to reach 78,654.
Over 82.42 million tons of cargo were transported by air during the period, marking a 2% increase.
Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport saw the highest traffic during the period and accounted for 3.22 million of the total number of transported passengers (9.22 million), 3% more than in the corresponding period of last year.
Mashhad International Airport and Kish International Airport followed with 1.55 million and 791,853 respectively.
Mehrabad handled 27,719 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 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, landings and cargo transport of companies and airports owned by IAC, but the new report also includes private airports and companies.
Monthly Review
The IAC data also show that in the third month of the year (May 22-June 21), 2.88 million passengers were transported by Iranian airlines on domestic routes, down 5% year-on-year.
Takeoffs and landings posted a 5% decline to 25,205.
Over 24.23 million tons of cargo were handled during the month, 1% less than 24.59 million tons in Q1 last year.
Mehrabad International Airport accounted for 1 million of the total number of transported passengers, down 2%. It handled 8,897 landings and takeoffs during the period, considerably higher than those of other Iranian airports.
Mashhad International Airport and Kish International Airport followed with 527,569 and 185,937 passengers, respectively.
The IAC data also show a total of 896 flights were operated on Tehran-Mashhad route during the month, transporting 120,919 passengers to top the list of air routes with the highest passenger traffic.
A total of 123,967 passengers were flown from Mashhad to Tehran during the period via 891 direct flights.
Kish-Tehran route came next and was followed by Tehran-Kish and Shiraz-Tehran routes.
Average Delay of 94 Minutes Per Flight
Domestic flights in the third month of the year were delayed by an average of 94 minutes per flight.
Around 28% of flights were delayed in the month: The longest average delay in flights was registered by Fly Persia Airlines with 131 minutes and the shortest by Mahan Air with 59 minutes. ASA Jet did not record any delays during the month.
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 prevent 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.
The US sanctions have grounded many planes and caused technical problems 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 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 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 purchasing new aircraft.”
