Flight Delays Average 100 Minutes 

Domestic flights in the 10th month of the current Iranian year were delayed by an average of 100 minutes, according to Iran Airports Company.
Around 46% of flights were delayed during the period.
The longest average delay in flights was registered by Karun Airlines with 133 minutes and the shortest by ASA Jet Airlines with 59 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.
Iran needs 550 passenger planes in its air fleet to be able to adequately supply demand, the head of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran, Mohammed Mohammadi-Bakhsh, said in a recent meeting of government officials about the state of 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 and brand new aircraft,” he said.
In an interview with IRIB News, Mohammadi-Bakhsh, who doubles as deputy minister of transportation, said currently, Iran’s air fleet has 175 operational planes.
“We have a total of 335 planes, 175 of which are operational and the rest have been grounded,” he said, adding that 11 of the 175 operational planes are only used to transport cargo.

Low Efficiency of Iranian Planes

Hamid Ghavabesh, the former head of Iranian Airlines Association, has told the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad that even operational planes in Iran have their own limitations when it comes to flying.
“Note that operational planes are not capable of flying for a long time; many of these planes fly only twice, the total efficiency of Iranian planes is between three and four hours; sometimes they are incapable of flying after one roundtrip flight,” he said. 
“This is while the young planes of Iran's neighboring airlines, such as the airlines of Arab countries and Turkey, are able to fly for a full day.”
The former head of the Iranian Airlines Association noted that the average age of planes in 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.
Mohammadi-Bakhsh pointed out that no aircraft is sent abroad for repair 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 added.
As IRNA reported, 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.
Meanwhile, Iran has filed a complaint against the US to the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran about the grounded fleet of ATR passenger aircraft Tehran purchased following the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2016. Ten such planes have been grounded due to lack of parts, because the US prevents their supply.
The ICA chief recently said the US measures are in violation of the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization, IRNA reported.
Fifteen planes were purchased after JCPOA, 13 of which were small ones manufactured by ATR Aircraft. 
According to Mohammadi-Bakhsh, the Franco-Italian aircraft manufacturer failed to live up to its commitment after selling the ATR planes to Iran.
“They even failed to provide us with technical publications and maintenance manuals, let alone parts,” he added.
Iran was also delivered three Airbus after the JCPOA revival, one A321, and two A330s.