Page 62 - IRANRptFeb22

Iran is offering major airlines overflight discounts to boost transit income
sanctions that place new planes and parts out of its reach.
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.
9.2.4 Agricultural corporate news
Iranian exporter ‘can sort apples at 10 tonnes per hour with new processing line’
A processing line capable of sorting 10 tonnes of apples per hour has been acquired by Iranian company Samiran Salsmat to help the enterprise export to a greater number of foreign markets, Fresh Plaza has reported. Iran’s apple export sector, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, is booming.
Bought from Italian company Futura and installed in September, the line helps to improve the level of apple sorting by weight, size and colour with an electronic sorter. Remote technical support via the internet is provided.
“We have been able to improve the level of our sorting by weight, size and colour with Futura's electronic sorter and this helps us to access important international markets and customers,” Mostafa Ayoubi Far, director of Samiran Salsmat, was quoted as saying.
Samiran Salsmat grows apples on hundreds of hectares, including on rented plots in some of the best apple growing areas of Iran, such as near the cities of Maraghe, Uromiyeh, Padana, Samirom and Isfahan.
The company mainly grows Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Gala, Pink Lady, Granny Smith and Fuji apples, while it also exports other fruit and vegetables such as kiwi, citrus, tomato, bell pepper, cucumber, potatoes, carrots, onions, beets, parsley mint and cilantro.
62 IRAN Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com