Page 65 - IRANRptSep21

Iran is offering major airlines overflight discounts to boost transit income
Iranian airlines on ‘verge of bankruptcy’
Eslami added that the transportation ministry was working on plans to carry out an overhaul of IranAir’s organisational structure to turn it into a major player in the global aviation industry.
Iran is offering overflight fee discounts to major airlines amid efforts by the government to boost transit income by increasing the number of flights through the country's airspace, Transportation Minister Mohammad Eslami has been cited as saying by Press TV.
A plan by Iran Airports and Air Navigation Company (IAC) to cut its overflight fees was approved by ministers, Eslami was reported as saying.
Xinhua news agency at the same time released a report quoting Eslami as stating that the government has been working with the Iranian armed forces to set up direct flight corridors to further assure foreign airlines of the safety of flying through Iranian airspace. A Ukrainian airliner was shot down by the Iranian military just outside Tehran in January 2020 in an apparent accident, with the loss of all on board.
Iranian Air Navigation Company chief Siavash Amirmokri lately said that the number of transit flights through Iran declined by nearly one half to 400-450 per day in 2020 compared with the number in 2019. The coronavirus crisis that put a stop to a huge amount of international travel was likely the cause of that slump.
The recent repairing of relations between Qatar and other Gulf Arab states, which were blockading the kingdom, will also likely reduce the number of transit flights taking routes over Iran. Tehran stepped in to provide Qatar with alternative airspace when the Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, introduced their embargo on Qatar, which included a refusal to accommodate Qatari airlines including flagship Qatar Airways.
The chair of the board of the Iranian Airlines Association has said carriers face massive financial losses and are on the verge of bankruptcy because of the 60% capacity limit applied to passenger jets amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Mehr News Agency reported on January 3.
Iran’s airline industry was already in dire straits due to the impacts of heavy US sanctions that hit passenger potential and placed big obstacles in the way of sourcing aircraft parts. The latest difficulties could bring the death knell for many smaller and some larger players if enough support from financial institutions or the government is not forthcoming.
In a letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, board chair Younes Daghigh Kia requested the scrapping of the capacity limit.
“Some airlines will soon go bankrupt [due to the passenger limit],” he wrote. He added: "Since the beginning of the pandemic, airlines, despite the heavy economic pressure on them, have acted according to their social responsibilities along with other industries and services in the country.” Daghigh Kia said that “air conditioning systems in the aeroplanes are provided safely and the use of masks during a flight is the only recommendation for the safety of the passengers.”
Maghsoud Asadi Samani, secretary of the Iranian Airlines Association, said: "Iranian airlines have lost 43% of their internal flights and 96% of their international flights in the past six months and in the first six months of the Iranian year [March 20-September 20] they lost 2000bn toman [$77mn]"
“This decrease in the numbers of the passengers per flight continues while all the fixed costs of the companies must be paid and according to the global guidelines issued by ICAO and IATA none of the airlines should have to reduce their passenger capacity."
65 IRAN Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com