Page 61 - IRANRptMay21

Iranian airlines on ‘verge of bankruptcy’
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."
9.2.4 Agricultural corporate news
Bank Kesharvarzi provides loan to entrepreneurs tapping into Iran’s dairy farming expansion with 2,000 cow farm
Iran’s Bank Kesharvarzi (Agriculture Bank) is providing a loan of Iranian rial (IRR) 300bn ($1.1mn at the unofficial rate, $7.1mn at the government rate) to agro-industrial company Saba Pegah Lorestan for construction of a 2,000-cow dairy farm in the western Lorestan province in the Zagros mountains, IBENA has reported.
Iran’s dairy industry has seen significant expansion in recent years. It now even runs operations in Iraq and, thanks to a recent deal, Armenia. Despite its mostly arid climate, Iran is the most significant milk producer in Western Asia after Turkey. It has industrial-sized dairy farms spread the length and breadth of the country.
Saba Pegah Lorestan’s dairy farm is expected to become one of the most
61 IRAN Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com