Tehran's IKIA Airport Striving to Compensate Pandemic Losses

Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport has focused on tapping into new sources of revenue to cover expenses and overcome financial hardships resulting from the outbreak of Covid-19 in the past couple of months. 
Currently, local airliners as well as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airline are operating flights to/from IKIA, according to Mohammad Mehdi Karbalaei, Imam Khomeini Airport City's CEO. 
"We have also held talks with Lufthansa and Austrian Air to persuade them to resume Tehran flights," he said.
He did not provide further details about European airliners' possible return. 
"More flights are operated from/to the airport compared with eight months ago. However, operations have seen a tenfold decline compared to the months before the outbreak of the virus," he said.
Latest statistics released by Iran Airport Company indicate a 23% growth in the total number of foreign flights using Iranian airspace during the month to Sept. 21.