List of airlines of Iran
Iran has several private and public airline companies in operation. The oldest is Iran Air. As of June 2009, Iranian planes fly 45 international flight routes. Most of the fleet of Iranian airlines today consist of old Boeings and used or leased Airbus and Russian manufactured aircraft such as Tupolevs.[1] Sanctions from the United States prevents Iran from purchasing most new western made aircraft to update its rapidly aging fleet. Iran's own poor safety regulations and mismanagement on behalf of the Iran civil aviation authorities has also been a known factor to blame.[2] This has resulted in a series of ongoing disasters and incidents.[3] Because of this, in the last 25 years there have been 17 plane crashes, and 1500 deaths (From 2000 to 2006, 11 Iranian plane crashes claimed about 700 lives).[4][5][6] The fact that Iran's economy has been controlled by the government for so many years is also an issue that has affected the aviation industry.[4]
Iran has initiated manufacturing aircraft on its own such as the IR.AN-140.[7] A number of 108 airliners have been added to the fleet of Iranian passenger planes during the last five years.[8] As at July 2015, Iran had 251 commercial planes with 41,218 seats and 6 cargo planes, many (around 100) of which are not functional because of a lack of spare parts.[9][10]
With a population of 70 million, Iran needs to have 6,300 airplanes of all types while it does not possess more than nine aircraft for every one million individuals.[11] Iran plans to buy 400 passenger planes by 2025 worth some $20 billion.[12][13][14] In 2016, at the risk of seriously undermining or destroying its own naissant domestic aviation industry, Iran announced its intention to buy over 200 heavy airplanes from Boeing and Airbus at a cost of more than $50 billion - which exceeds the entire fleet of Air France who operates in a country that has seven times the number of air travelers as Iran.[15][16] This, in addition to more planned orders of 100 medium-range planes to Japan's Mitsubishi, Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier.[17] Iran says these deals include authorization to maintain these planes inside of Iran, including the production of parts and training.[18]
As of 2014, Iranian airliners spend 25% of their earnings on aircraft maintenance on average while the global average is only 6%.[19] Iran plans to liberalize airfare prices by 2015.[19] As of 2015, foreign airlines earned $3bn in Iran annually.[9] Iranian airlines handle a total of 50 million passengers each year (2016).[20]
AIRLINE | IMAGE | IATA | ICAO | CALLSIGN | COMMENCED OPERATIONS |
NOTES |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ATA Airlines (Iran) | ![]() |
I3 | TBZ | ATAAIR | 2010 | |
Atrak Air | AK | ATR | ATRAK | 2013 | ||
Caspian Airlines | ![]() |
RV | CPN | CASPIAN | 1993 | |
Iran Air | ![]() |
IR | IRA | IRANAIR | 1938 | Flag carrier and Iran's largest airline with 6 million passengers in 2016.[21] |
Iran Air Tours | ![]() |
B9 | IRB | AIRTOUR | 1973 | |
Iran Aseman Airlines | ![]() |
EP | IRC | ASEMAN | 1980 | |
Iranian Naft Airlines | ![]() |
NV | IRG | NAFT | 1992 | |
Kish Air | ![]() |
Y9 | IRK | KISHAIR | 1989 | |
Mahan Air | ![]() |
W5 | IRM | MAHAN AIR | 1992 | Iran’s second-largest airline, and its largest privately owned airline.[22] |
Meraj Airlines | JI | MRJ | MERAJ | 2010 | Iran's first VIP Airline and youngest Airline based on the fleet age. | |
Pasargad Airline | PAS | PASARGAD AIR | 2009 | Passenger flights | ||
Payam Air | ![]() |
2F | IRP | PAYAMAIR | 2008 | Express Shipping/Cargo |
Pouya Cargo Air | PYA | POUYA | 2008 | Cargo | ||
Qeshm Airlines | ![]() |
QB | IRQ | QESHM AIR | 1996 | |
Taban Air | ![]() |
HH | TBM | TABAN AIR | 2006 | |
Taftan Air | SBT | TAFTAN | 2004 | |||
Zagros Airlines | ![]() |
ZV | IZG | ZAGROS | 2005 |
See also
- Iran Aviation Industries Organization
- International Rankings of Iran in Transportation
- Iran airshow
- Iran Civil Aviation Organization
- List of airlines
- List of airports in Iran
- List of defunct airlines of Asia – includes defunct Iranian airlines
- List of defunct airlines of Iran
- List of Iranian Aviation Accidents and Incidents
- Tourism in Iran
- Transport in Iran
References
- ^ Iran Daily - National - 06/22/08
- ^ Daragahi, Borzou (2009-09-15). "Iran's aviation regulation seen as a factor in air crashes". latimes.
- ^ Sara Shams | Tehran | 29 January 2009
- ^ a b http://presstv.com/Program/216935.html
- ^ Ladane Nasseri (10 August 2014). "Iran Plane Crashes Outside Tehran Airport, Dozens Dead". Bloomberg.com.
- ^ "Report details century of fatal air accidents in Iran". payvand.com.
- ^ http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-237/0804208588002502.htm
- ^ http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8908021732
- ^ a b "PressTV-Foreign airlines earn $3bn in Iran annually". presstv.com.
- ^ "PressTV-14 new planes to join Iran's fleet". presstv.com.
- ^ "Iran to introduce wide-body plane in 2013". payvand.com.
- ^ Iran's aviation industry: Back in business?. CNN. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
- ^ "PressTV-'Iran needs 400 airliners by 2025'". presstv.com.
- ^ "Aircraft makers salivate over post-sanctions Iran". payvand.com.
- ^ http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-iran-airlines-snap-story.html
- ^ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-18/iran-says-u-s-will-soon-grant-licenses-for-boeing-airbus-deals
- ^ http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/09/20/485516/Iran-aviation-Mitsubishi-Airbus-Boeing
- ^ http://en.mehrnews.com/news/120622/Boeing-Airbus-grant-Iran-maintenance-part-manufacturing-rights
- ^ a b "PressTV-Iran's civil aviation battling sanctions". presstv.com.
- ^ https://www.thebusinessyear.com/iran-2016/royal-roads/review
- ^ https://www.thebusinessyear.com/iran-2016/royal-roads/review
- ^ http://www.turquoisepartners.com/iraninvestment/IIM-Jun11.pdf
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Videos
- Iran's civil aviation - Part I Part II Part III - PressTV (2010)
- Iran’s civil aviation battling sanctions - PressTV (2014)