The German budget airline, Germania, is to launch flights to Tehran and Mashhad from December 15. These are the carrier’s first two flight routes into Iran, Mehr news agency reported.
During the nearly decade-long imposition of unfair sanctions on Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, seven major international airlines limited or terminated flights to the country.
After the interim Geneva deal in November 2013, which offered partial relief to the economic sanctions and now again extended for seven months, the demand for Iranian tourism has increased and airlines are showing interest to resume flights and launch new flights routes to Iran.
Iran is also looking at expanding its network with foreign airlines and its recent MoU with Germany and Portugal in as indication of this.
There are currently 33 foreign airline companies working in the country that carried three million passengers last year.
The Director of Monitoring Airports and Aviation Companies Morteza Dehghan had previously announced that there are already 18 flights per week between Iran and Germany. “The new airline will take the number of flights up to 22 flights per week.”
Of the 22 flights, he added, 11 are with Iranian airlines, including Iran Air and Mahan flying to Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Dusseldorf, and 7 are Frankfurt-Tehran flights in alliance with Lufthansa.
The new German airline has a fleet of 23, including Boeing 737-700, Airbus 319 and 321, and will commence flight routes between cities of Hamburg-Mashhad-Hamburg, Dusseldorf-Tehran- Dusseldorf, and Berlin-Tehran-Berlin.
