Page 61 - IRANRptSep22

Iran bans foreign nationals from buying locally priced airline tickets
The Association of Iranian Airlines has issued a new rule banning the sale of tickets to foreigners at local rates, Financial Tribune reported on July 3.
Local airlines have been offering regional and domestic flights at significant markdowns due to the weakened Iranian rial, with a one-way ticket to Turkey from Tehran now only costing around €110 one way with local airlines.
“Flight tickets will only be sold to foreign nationals through the website of airlines or at airlines’ offices,” Maqsoud Asadi-Samani, secretary of AIA said to IRNA.
Airlines now will have full control over the sale of tickets locally.
The move to ban sales at reduced prices comes as a decision was made by airline authorities to charge a dollar day rate to foreign travellers in the country. However, many have been taking advantage of reduced costs to pass on the savings.
Tickets of domestic flights lasting under an hour will be sold at a ceiling of $100 and those taking more than an hour at $150, it explained.
The price of tickets of domestic flights will remain unchanged for Iranian nationals who have a national ID code.
The foreign ministry objected to decision saying that it would severely hamper the growth in inbound tourism following the two-year shutdown during the pandemic.
The letter noted that on average 2mn Iraqis visit Iran every year and said that jacking up prices would be a deterrent to regional inbound tourism.
9.1.5 Transport sector news
Russia faces final decision on financing Iran railroad that would remove weakest link on INSTC trade route
Russia must make a final decision on whether to finance a relatively short railroad in Iran, the construction of which would remove the weakest link in the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC). Moscow, looking for trade and cargo transport alternatives both East and South in the face of the sanctions imposed by the West in response to its invasion of Ukraine, sees the potential of a fully developed and efficient INSTC as offering it Iranian gateways to the Gulf and Sea of Oman (Indian Ocean). Iran’s role in the international North-South Transport is crucial. Yet, despite some railway infrastructure advancements, it is also the corridor’s weakest link. A Russian delegation visited the country for this purpose, examining how getting involved in completing crucial lines could also benefit the country in acquiring a gateway to the Persian Gulf and India. The line in question is the Rasht-Astara railway, which will practically complete a big part of INSTC. However, just 12 of the required 162 kilometres of the planned railroad between Astara, Azerbaijan, and Rasht near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea in northern Iran, have been completed.
“If the financial resources are provided, Rasht-Astara railroad, which is a missing link along the International North-South Transportation Corridor, will be completed within three to four years,” Kheirollah Khademi, head of the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructure Company of Iran, was on August 25 quoted by RailFreight.com as telling visiting Russian railroad officials on a fact-finding tour.
“Provide the needed finance, and we both benefit,” Khademi also told the delegates.
Khademi was also cited as saying that from a technical point of view, there were no obstacles in the way of implementing the rail project, which could be achieved within three to four years.
61 IRAN Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com